


Protect & Serve

by Cherienymphe



Series: Protect & Serve Universe [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cop AU, F/M, Forced Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:00:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28846437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherienymphe/pseuds/Cherienymphe
Summary: Escaping an ugly past, you have no choice but to return home. While much has remained the same, Officer Rogers is a new addition who has won over the hearts of the town in your absence. And no one believes you when you start to see him for who he really is
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Reader
Series: Protect & Serve Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2115264
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> WARNINGS: Cop!Steve, mentions of abuse, mentions of miscarriage, eventual STALKING/KIDNAPPING/NON-CON

You threw the last of your empty boxes into the garbage in front of your house. Your back ached, and your legs were screaming for a reprieve, but you’d been determined to finish unpacking by the end of the day. And so you had.

The cicadas were loud in the nearby trees, the dark sky decorated with stars. Though you were back down south, you’d forgotten how cool the nights could get. You tightened your sweater around you as you looked along the street. In the years past, so much had changed…but a lot had remained the same.

With a sigh, you turned to make your way back into the house. You’d been running like a train nonstop for the past 3 days, determined to completely unpack and get settled long before school started back. You wanted one less thing to worry about.

You placed your back against the door as you closed it, taking a calming breath and locking it. You closed your eyes, reminding yourself that you were safe. Your ex-husband was far away and none the wiser to your location. You had nothing to be afraid of. You chanted this to yourself until you were able to finally move away from the door.

Your modest house was so quiet, and you welcomed the silence as you made your way upstairs. The atmosphere was so peaceful, and for the first time in a long time, you could hear your own thoughts. Living with Aldrich for so long, you’d forgotten what that had felt like.

He was regularly criticizing anything he could think of, his biting words packaged in a smile that was a tad too wide. Kissing you a tad too harsh and grabbing you a tad too tight. You honestly didn’t know how you’d put up with it for so long. You were disappointed with yourself, but even more disappointed that it took a miscarriage for you to finally leave him.

It should never have come to that.

You settled into bed, somewhat uncomfortable, but only in a way that was unfamiliar to you. You were alone and safe and at peace for the first time in years. Determined to have a good night’s sleep, you pushed painful thoughts out of your mind, and vowed to make your regrets fuel your new future.

  


The grocer handed your bags to you with a shy smile on his face, cheeks flushing when your fingers brushed over his.

“Thanks,” you told him.

“Have a good day,” he recited, something he probably said a hundred times a day.

You left with a quiet ‘you too’ thrown over your shoulder before making your way outside. The town was filled with both familiar and unfamiliar faces alike. Sure, you’d been gone for almost 10 years, but you hadn’t expected your small town to have expanded this much in a million years.

You noticed a scratch on the side of your car when you neared it, and you took a closer look. With a huff, you looked around, but no one was parked near you and no shopping carts were close by either. Convincing yourself that it wasn’t that big of a deal, you settled into your car and placed your groceries in the passenger seat.

As you drove down the familiar street, you chuckled to yourself, recalling how you vowed to never return here. The universe had a twisted sense of humor that way because here you were, almost 10 years later, seeking sanctuary in the one place you hated most. Perhaps, in a way, this was your life lesson.

You’d been so desperate to get out of this backwards small town that you’d run off with the first man to give you the chance. How foolish you were then to think you were in love. You were just barely an adult, could hardly even be called one. Aldrich Killian was older and gorgeous and most importantly, he’d been going places.

A chance of luck, or perhaps misfortune, had placed him in your nowhere town, and you’d fallen head over heels immediately. He took to you just the same, and there was no hesitation whatsoever to run off with him to the big city. You left everything and everyone behind without a backwards glance.

He hid his true nature well. So well that it took you an entire two years into the relationship to learn about the other women. Having traveled all the way to New York on his coattails, you’d been distraught…and hurt. You may have been silly then, but not that silly.

He came home the next day to find you gone. His money made it easy for him to track you down at a friend’s place though, and the romantic in you was swayed by the sight of the powerful man on his knees, begging for your forgiveness. Surprisingly, he was true to his word, and from then on out, you were the only one.

But your relief was short-lived. You soon came to find out that these other women had something in common with the way he treated them, and with them out of the picture, you soon had that very same thing in common too.

It started out small. A raised voice here, a harsh grip there, but then he’d slapped you. Real hard too. It had left your ears ringing, and you’d been so shocked, that you didn’t see the next one coming. It became a regular occurrence, but it was always followed up by gifts and apologetic words. He’d be good for a few days, and it became easy to believe things would change. But like clockwork, the cycle repeated.

You hadn’t even known that you were pregnant when he shoved you down the stairs. You could only blink in shock when the doctor told you that you’d suffered a miscarriage. That was one of the first things you heard when you woke up inside of the hospital, and the sudden loss of something you didn’t even know you had was heartbreaking.

So when they asked for the truth, suspicion already in their eyes as they looked at the fading bruises and the fresh ones, you gave it to them without hesitation. Proving it was easy enough, and the divorce papers had been drawn up in no time, but Aldrich had money. A lot of it too.

He didn’t even do some measly community service.

You scoffed in the quiet car, hands tightening on the wheel. All of that was over now. You were back home and far away from him. Things would be different now. They had to be…

You frowned when your car started to sputter, confusion filling you as your eyes widened. You looked at the dash, and your confusion grew as you realized you were completely out of gas. A disbelieving scoff left you as you had no choice but to turn your car off. You sat back in your seat with a sigh, blinking as you realized that you had no one to call.

All of your family was gone, and all of your former friends had long left. The ones that hadn’t, the bridge had been burned long ago. Grabbing yours keys and your purse and the few grocery bags you had, you decided you’d have to walk home. It wasn’t too far of a walk. In New York, it’d be considered nothing.

It was late in the evening though, and you were sure it was going to be dark before you reached your house. You didn’t feel comfortable just leaving your car on the side of the road, but you didn’t exactly have a choice. This stretch of road was lengthy, and the thought of being out here at night made you nervous.

You squinted when red and blue reflected off of the pavement from over your shoulder. You looked over just as a police cruiser pulled up beside you. Your heart skipped a beat when the person inside turned it off and proceeded to exit the car. He curved around the front of the car, and you blinked at the full sight of him.

His blond hair was neatly pushed away from his face, and you sharply inhaled at his handsome features. He was tall, and his blue eyes were focused entirely on you as he approached you. His smile was kind, inviting even, and you were tempted to return it, but something prevented you from doing so. He reminded you of your ex-husband, and you warily eyed the way his uniform hugged him, plastered to the bands of muscle that were his arms.

“Evening, ma’am,” he greeted.

“Good evening,” you murmured.

“Was that your car I passed not too long ago?”

You looked in the direction of where you left your car before nodding.

“I…ran out of gas. Which is odd because I was sure I had over half a tank when I left home,” you told him.

He chuckled, and you frowned at him. Catching sight of your glower, he shook his head, taking a step towards you.

“I’m not laughing at you, I promise. It just seems that the punks in this town got another victim.”

He pointed in the direction of your car.

“You got yourself an older model, one that doesn’t require the gas cap to be opened from the inside. They like to steal gas from whoever they can,” he explained.

With a scoff, you realized they were still pulling that mess the teens did before you left. How silly of you to think the kids here would move onto bigger and better things. The blond before you spoke before you had the chance to.

“You live far?”

You squinted up at him, hesitating before eventually shaking your head.

“Not really…no.”

You watched as he walked to the passenger side, opening the door as he faced you.

“Let me drive you home,” he offered.

Your face pinched, wondering how to refuse. You didn’t get in the car with strangers, no matter their profession. You started to shake your head.

“It’s not that far. I can walk-.”

“It’s going to get dark soon, and you need to get those groceries in the fridge.”

He wasn’t wrong, but still, you hesitated. He threw you a crooked smile, leaning his arm on the open door now.

“I won’t be able to rest if I don’t know you made it home, so if you don’t get in, I’ll just have to ride alongside you,” he teased.

Although, you got the feeling that he was entirely serious. Reluctantly, you walked towards the cruiser.

“Okay.”

He closed the door for you as you made yourself comfortable, clicking your seatbelt into place.

“Are you really that responsible or is it just because you’re in the car with me?” he wondered with a chuckle as he sat beside you.

“Just that responsible,” you murmured as he started the car.

You gave him directions to your house, and he followed them with a hum.

“You’re new,” he suddenly said.

It was a statement, not a question, and you frowned.

“Hardly,” you said, shaking your head.

“Huh. I’ve never seen you around…”

You squirmed in your seat at his questions, and you fought with yourself. You told yourself that you were just so skittish after your ex-husband, and you told yourself to calm down. This man wasn’t him.

“I only recently moved back,” you eventually replied.

“How long you been gone?”

He took a left, and you blew out a breath.

“Almost…10 years?”

He let out a low whistle, tapping his finger on the wheel.

“No wonder. I moved to town about 6 years ago. 10 years is an awfully long time,” he noted. “What made you come back?”

“Divorce.”

He didn’t respond right away, and you could feel him eyeing you.

“I’m sorry,” he quietly said.

“Don’t be,” you honestly replied.

You pointed at your house, and he pulled into the yard. You tried not to be so obvious as you hurried to get out of his car. You were halted by a hand on your arm, and you looked over at him.

“Don’t worry about your car. I’ll get some gas in it and make sure it arrives here safe and sound,” he said with a smile.

“Oh, you don’t have to-.”

“Don’t worry about it. Consider as part of my job description.”

You nodded, finally throwing him a small smile.

“Thank you…” you eyed his badge. “Officer Rogers.”

He chuckled, shaking his head.

“Please…call me Steve.”

You simply replied with a strained smile before exiting the car. He watched you as you made your way to your door, and when you finally got it open, you waved him goodbye. He returned it, but he didn’t drive off. Not even when you closed and locked the door.

Through the window, you watched him sit there for a while, longer than you deemed necessary. Eventually, he pulled out of your yard, and you turned to put your groceries away with a frown.

  


“Y/N Y/L/N… I haven’t seen you in ages…”

You glanced up at the familiar voice, and your eyes widened as they connected with familiar blue ones. You blinked.

“Wanda,” you greeted in surprise. “…hi.”

She placed her hand on the chair across from you, grinning as her reddish-brown hair spilled around her shoulders.

“So you’re back,” she said.

“So I am,” you nodded. “You look great!”

“You’re one to talk. When you skipped town, you were this confused little girl who didn’t know who she was trying to be. Now you come back here and you’re like something out of every miserable husband’s wet dream,” she teased.

You scoffed at that, shaking your head.

“Hardly…”

“Still as blind as ever, I see. Are you back in the old house?” she wondered.

You shook your head.

“No. I considered it, but… It’s too painful,” you told her.

She solemnly nodded, and you perked up.

“So…do you work here?” you wondered, glancing around the impressive diner.

She smirked.

“Sort of. It’s actually kind of mine now…”

Your lips parted, and a genuine smile fell over them.

“You bought it,” you said, in awe.

“I did,” she breathed, glancing around. “I always said I would…but part of me didn’t think I’d ever do it.”

“…but you did! And it looks amazing! You actually turned this place into something worth coming to,” you complimented her.

She hummed, taking the seat in front of you as she looked around with a wistful sigh.

“This could’ve been ours, you know…”

She looked at you, and you glanced away.

“Yeah, well… I was too busy chasing dick,” you replied, and she laughed.

“You were young and in love! If I’d had an Aldrich Killian offering to whisk me away from here, I’d have done the same too.”

“…and I would have locked you away to prevent you from ruining your life,” you threw back.

Her smile fell, and her eyes dimmed a tad as she studied you.

“Trouble in paradise?”

“There is no paradise. I’m not sure there ever was…”

There was a brief awkward silence, and she suddenly sighed.

“Was he the reason you didn’t come for the funerals?”

You didn’t reply, but there was no need to. She shook her head.

“I knew you wouldn’t just…not come. Everybody else was so convinced, but not me. I knew there had to be a good reason… Where did he drag you to anyway?”

You leaned back in your chair with a wistful smile.

“New York.”

“Was it at least fun?”

You mulled over her question before you shook your head.

“No. Aldrich…liked women,” you said with a shrug.

Wanda’s face fell at that.

“…and…when he gave those women up so I would stay, I found out that…he liked _hitting_ women even more,” you quietly continued.

“Y/N,” she whispered, reaching across the table to take your hand.

“I’m past it…mostly. Some of us just have to learn our life lessons the hard way,” you told her with a shrug.

“Don’t say that. You loved him! That’s hardly worthy of a punishment. Sometimes, people are just shitty, and it has nothing to do with us.”

The bell over the door rang from behind you, and Wanda loudly welcomed them without even glancing up. Several voices filled the establishment, and you noted that they traveled and congregated to a table in the back corner, behind you. You heard footsteps approaching, and Wanda finally glanced up. You watched as she grinned at the newcomer.

“Steve!”

You followed her gaze, and sure enough, it was the officer from the other day. You didn’t know if he was on break or getting off of a shift, but he was still in uniform. His hands were on his hips as he looked between you two, a slow smile moving along his pink lips.

“Wanda…ma’am,” he greeted.

Wanda gestured to you.

“This is my friend-.”

“We’ve actually already met, but I never did get the pleasure of learning your name…”

You cleared your throat, feeling put on the spot as Wanda looked at you.

“Y/N,” you told him.

His smile slowly widened, and he ran his eyes over your face, drinking you in.

“Y/N,” he greeted again. “It’s nice to put a name to the face.”

You simply replied with a tense smile as you laid your arms on the table.

“Wanda, me and the rest of the crew are going to have the usual,” he told her.

“Of course! I’ll get Gwen to get right on it.”

He smiled at her.

“Thanks.”

He looked to you, blue eyes connecting with yours.

“Y/N,” he acknowledged with a nod just before leaving.

“You’re in town for five minutes and already have an admirer,” she slyly said once he was out of earshot.

“No, I’m in town for five minutes, and you’re already trying to set me up,” you corrected.

She waved you off.

“I’m just saying…he’s nice. I’m not telling you to marry the guy, but he’s a good man. As squeaky clean as they come,” she told you.

“So you’re saying that’s what I need?” you sarcastically wondered.

“I’m not saying you _need_ anything. I just think it’d be nice for you…and he clearly likes you. Leave it to you to be back for five minutes and catch the eye of the most sought-after man in town,” she breathed. “Every woman within a 75-mile radius has been trying to bag Steve Rogers ever since he breezed into the city limits 6 years ago.”

“Well then you take him.”

“I would, but I’m happily taken. Besides, he seems to have his eye on someone else. How did you meet him anyway?”

You happily told her of your embarrassing encounter with the man that was sitting not even 5 tables away.

  


You watched as the tow truck pulled your car just beside the curb in front of your house. Officer Rogers and his cruiser were parked on the other side of the driveway, and the blond man leaned against the vehicle as he supervised the process. Only a few minutes later, and your car was back, and the truck was driving off as Steve waved them off.

You hugged your sweater to you as you approached him. He met you halfway, and you sent him an appreciative smile.

“Thank you,” you breathed. “You honestly didn’t have to do that. I could’ve easily put some gas in it and drove it home.”

“…but you would’ve had to _walk_ to the gas station to fill a gas jug, and then _walk_ to your car,” he said, shaking his head. “It was nothing, really.”

“Either way, I still feel bad. I was more than capable…”

He chuckled.

“So how do you know Wanda? You girls go way back or something?”

“Yeah,” you said with a nod. “We were two troublemakers.”

He found that funny, maybe because Wanda was so different now. He rubbed the side of his neck, and his face slowly began to fall.

“When you told me your name, I thought it sounded familiar, you know. You’re Y/N Y/L/N…aren’t you?”

Your own visage grew solemn, and you slowly nodded.

“I’m sorry about your family. I know it happened years ago, but… I wanted to offer my condolences all the same,” he whispered.

You took a deep breath, chest clenching.

“Thank you. I really appreciate that… _and_ for my car,” you added, trying to lighten the mood. “You really didn’t have to do that…nor drive me home that night.”

The corner of his lips quirked upwards ever so slightly, and his blue eyes sparkled.

“Well…if you’re feeling _that_ bad about it…treat me to dinner,” he offered.

You blinked, taken off guard by his bold proposal, and your lips parted as words failed you. He ran his eyes over you as he waited for your response. You thought about Wanda’s words. She assured you that he was a good guy, and to be honest, you _wanted_ a good guy…but not yet.

Your divorce had only been finalized a few months ago, and you really needed time to yourself. You were barely an adult when you ran off with Aldrich, and you’d spent the last decade with him. You wanted to know who you were when you weren’t with him. You owed yourself that.

“I uh…I’m flattered, really, but… I’m not really interested in anything like that for the time being,” you honestly replied.

His eyes dimmed just a bit, but the smile never wavered. You felt bad.

“I’m really sorry. Besides, it just…doesn’t seem appropriate for some reason.”

Steve sharply inhaled and nodded.

“I understand. Have a good night,” he said before taking a step back and turning to go to his car.

You sighed as you watched him go, but you knew that it was for the best. You made your way inside of your quiet house, hoping for a good night of sleep, but sleep did not easily find you.

Too many things were on your mind.

Seeing Wanda brought back so many memories that you would honestly rather forget. She reminded you of a time you spent sneaking out to meet her, idly dreaming of things you halfway hoped to accomplish. An already rocky relationship with your family that only crumbled when you took off.

You thought about how you didn’t talk to them for years, too busy following Aldrich around like a lost dog. You’d thought you had more time. You had put off what you knew you needed to do again and again. You thought the chance would always be there…until it wasn’t.

In a single night, your entire family had been ripped away from you. A car accident. Something so simple. Aldrich hadn’t even let you go to the funeral. By then, he’d grown possessive, and it wasn’t long after that he started putting his hands on you. Part of you thought he’d waited until you had no one to run to.

You sat up in bed when you heard a noise on the side of your house. You were upstairs, and the fact that it was loud enough to reach your ears worried you. Slowly, and quietly, you left your bed, creeping towards the window.

At first, you didn’t see anything and thought that you’d imagined it. However, what you thought was a part of the general darkness, moved. Your eyes widened, and you reached for your phone, immediately dialing 911.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

You stumbled over your address, the numbers and street name still new to you, but you shakily told her about the strange man in your yard. Your eyes didn’t leave him the entire time, and relief didn’t fill you when the silhouette eventually left.

One of the upsides to a small town was that it took no time for you to hear sirens coming from down the street. You hurriedly ran downstairs, opening the door as the cruiser pulled into your yard. Steve greeted you, and you did calm down a bit at the familiar face.

“Is he still here?” was the first thing he asked, one hand on his gun.

“I don’t know,” you whispered, placing one hand on your heart and the other on your forehead.

He briefly touched your shoulder before telling you he was going to secure the perimeter of the property. You stood in your doorway while he did so, trying, and failing, to convince yourself that you’d imagined it. After all, the worst thing to happen in your town was your family’s car accident. Strange men skulking about people’s homes was unheard of.

When Steve was done, he shook his head at you, one foot on your steps.

“It’s all clear.”

You didn’t know whether or not to be relieved.

“Are you sure it was a man? Not some animal?”

You shrugged.

“I…don’t know. I was trying to fall asleep just before so it’s possible. I’m sorry,” you apologized.

He sighed.

“It’s alright. This is my job, remember? This is what I’m here for,” he told you.

“Thank you,” you breathed. “I appreciate it, Steve.”

He paused, blue eyes connecting with yours as the corner of his lips curved upwards into a smirk.

“That’s Officer Rogers to you.”

You blinked, brows furrowing just a tad as he turned away.

“You try to get some sleep,” he threw over his shoulder.

You hurriedly closed your door as he drove away, frown deepening as you mulled over his cold behavior.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, you took the time to go outside and walk around your house. You stopped below your bedroom window, eyeing the wall and frowning as you looked around. You weren’t getting much sleep, so perhaps Officer Rogers was right. Maybe it could have been an animal…

Your thoughts turned sour as you thought of the blond man.

It was impressive really, how quickly his demeanor had changed in only a matter of hours. You didn’t know the man, at all, so perhaps it was a bit assuming of you to think such a thing, but you couldn’t ignore the evident shift in his behavior. Was he…upset that you’d turned him down?

With a shake of your head, you made your way to your car. As soon as you settled inside, something felt off. You looked around, unsure as to why that was, but something just did. Brushing it off as your own paranoia, you started your car and began your drive to Walmart.

You hadn’t brought much when you moved back, and you found yourself in need of the simplest of things like tape and a hammer…possibly even a machete. You shook your head, determined to swallow your paranoia. You had grown up here. You knew firsthand how safe this town was.

Your shopping excursion didn’t last long, but when you left the store and made your way back to your car, you noted a police officer behind it. You frowned, picking up your pace when you realized that he…was writing you a ticket.

“Excuse me,” you called.

He looked up, and the familiar blue of his eyes gave you pause, but other than that, he was completely unfamiliar to you. His neat brown hair was pushed away from his face, and light stubble decorated his jaw.

“Is this your vehicle?” he asked.

“Yes, it is. What’s going on?”

He didn’t respond, instead beckoning you forward before pointing. You stood beside him and blinked at your busted taillight.

“Normally, I’d give a warning to get it fixed as soon as possible, but the boss has been cracking down lately. Sorry,” he halfheartedly apologized before handing you the slip of paper.

You sighed when you realized that the man who towed your car to your house must have been extremely rough. You called out to the brunette as he turned to leave.

“Um… Look, this isn’t an excuse or anything, I promise, but my car was brought to my house yesterday. The man who brought it was clearly careless with it. I didn’t even notice…”

He sighed, eyeing you.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but unfortunately, there isn’t much I can do. Just pay the fine and get it fixed as soon as possible,” he told you.

You opened your mouth to respond, but you were interrupted.

“Is there a problem officer?”

You turned towards the familiar voice with wide eyes and noticed the teasing grin on his lips as he stared at the other man.

“This man bothering you, ma’am?” he wondered, looking at you.

“Steve, let me do my job,” the cop huffed.

“It’s a broken taillight, Buck. Hardly a danger in this tiny town…”

With a start, you realized that they knew each other. Of course, they would. There were only so many cops in this town, and they all worked at the same station. Steve’s grin, however, told you that they were closer than just the average coworkers though.

“Giving poor women tickets for a taillight isn’t what the boss meant by do better, and you know it,” he said, taking the paper out of your hands before you could protest. “Besides, I’m responsible for it, anyway, so I’ll deal with it.”

Your eyes widened when he ripped up the ticket, but the officer, Buck is what Steve called him, didn’t protest. He merely sighed, tone filled with exasperation.

“It’s your ass,” he threw at Steve before glancing at you. “Sorry to bother you. Have a great day.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” you said as soon as the other cop was gone.

“Don’t be silly. I am responsible. Can’t let you pay for something so ridiculous,” he said, reaching for you. “Come on, I’ll drive you home.”

You hesitated with a frown.

“My car is perfectly fine. I can drive home but thank you though.”

Steve eyed you.

“You have a broken taillight. If another cop stops you, you _will_ get a ticket, and I won’t be there to intervene that time,” he responded.

You wanted to tell him that you didn’t ask him to the first time, but you held your tongue.

“Really, Officer Rogers, it’s-.”

“My car is just over here,” he pointed to a sleek black vehicle.

Again, you were reluctant. He’d asked you out, and when you turned him down, it would be stupid to deny the 180 his attitude had taken. You didn’t want to send the wrong message by accepting yet another ride home from him. But unfortunately, he was making some points.

“Look, I’ll get your taillight fixed, and leave the rest to you so that you can make sure no harm comes to your car this time,” he offered.

Again, if you agreed, you didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.

“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s appropriate-.”

He cut you off with a laugh.

“I’m not gearing up to ask you out again. Scout’s honor. I just feel bad…”

Your heart clenched, realizing that he was offering out of guilt, and reluctantly, you agreed. He led you towards his car and opened the passenger door for you. He waited until you were settled in, but unfortunately, you were having trouble with the seatbelt.

“Here, it’s tricky…”

You sharply inhaled when he bent down to lean in, reaching over to click it in place. His hand brushed over your stomach when he pulled back, and you blinked, wondering if you read too much into that. He had closed the door and was slipping into the driver’s side in no time.

The ride to your house was silent. There was tension in the air, but you wondered if it was purely your own doing. You didn’t feel comfortable accepting rides from strangers, no matter what their profession was, and a few run ins with Steve didn’t mean anything to you. He was still a stranger.

You quietly thanked him when he pulled into your yard, exiting the car without a backwards glance. You waved him goodbye as you entered your house, but just like last time, he didn’t leave right away. You watched through the window as he sat there for a worrying amount of time. His windows were tinted, so you couldn’t see what he was doing, but you could’ve sworn you felt the heat of his gaze. Eventually, he drove off, and you sighed in relief.

  


The next night, you were woken up by a noise coming from behind your house. Rousing from sleep, you were convinced you’d imagined it. You had rolled over, determined to go back to sleep, but your eyes flew open when you heard it again.

You sat up in bed with wide eyes, listening for it. A few minutes passed with nothing but silence, but then you heard a noise coming from below your window. Frozen with fear, you listened as the bumping noises traveled around the house. Swallowing that fear down, you threw your covers back and slowly, but surely, descended the stairs.

One of your steps creaked, and you remembered to step over it. You glanced at all of the windows as you stood in the living room, not seeing any shadows through the thin curtains. You heard another noise coming from your left, and you slowly made your way into the kitchen. You didn’t hear anything else and considered going back to bed, telling yourself that it was just some animal.

 _You aren’t in the city anymore_ , you had to remind yourself.

However, when you turned your head to the right, towards the kitchen window, you could see a shadow through the curtains. A yelp left your lips, and you stumbled back before hurrying up the stairs. You could hear banging on your front door, now, but you were already dialing 911.

You locked yourself in your room as you waited for the police to arrive. Like before, it took no time to hear the sirens approaching, but this time, you didn’t open your door until you heard your name being called. You shakily exited your house, arms folded over your chest as you came face to face with Steve again…and the officer from earlier.

Steve approached you while you stood on the front porch, and you explained to him what happened. The other man stood by the car, looking around, gaze hard. Steve told you that they’d secure the perimeter of the property. You leaned against your door and waited while they did so.

Frustration bubbled up within you minutes later when Steve shook his head, approaching you. His partner slowly went to stand in between him and the cruiser, eyeing both of you.

“Can you…check again? Please? This is the second time this has happened, and I know I’m not going crazy,” you begged. “They were banging on my door.”

Steve exhaled before he slowly nodded. He made a gesture to the other cop, and you watched as he moved to scope out the property again.

“Bucky’s going to check out the place again. Are you getting enough sleep?” Steve asked you.

Your eyes cut to him, and you frowned, not liking his insinuation.

“Of course. There was someone here,” you told him.

He nodded.

“I want to believe you. You say you saw someone in your yard, and I’ll believe that you did. Its just…”

He looked away with a sigh.

“We don’t get a lot of crime in this town. Nothing more serious than some bored teens stealing some gas, anyway,” he told you.

You did your best to keep your voice even as you narrowed your eyes.

“I know that. _I_ grew up here, Officer Rogers.”

His lips thinned, and he nodded.

“I understand. I’m just saying that it’s unusual.”

“Believe me, I know that its unusual. _Hence_ , why I’m calling you guys because this isn’t okay. Someone is skulking about my yard and making noises and-.”

“It’s all clear,” the other officer, Bucky, said as he glided around the side of the house.

You heaved a heavy sigh at that, placing your hands on your hips as you looked to Steve again.

“So what are my options? What can I do about this?”

His lips parted, and he glanced away, seemingly hesitant to speak. You blinked and let out a scoff, a humorless chuckle escaping you.

“Let me guess… There really isn’t much you can do because, as far as you know, no crime has been committed. Am I correct? I’m not hurt, and no one has been caught on the property, so…until then, your hands are tied,” you recited the words you’ve heard on thousands of crime documentaries.

“Everything you’ve said is correct,” he confirmed.

“So that’s what we do? Wait for someone to break into my house and kill me?”

“I’m just doing my job,” he defended, and you fought the urge to roll your eyes.

“Yeah…I know,” you murmured. “Thanks, anyway.”

You left him on the porch and closed your door just a tad too hard behind you.

  


Unfortunately for you, the nights that followed went much the same. You’d be roused from sleep sometime in the night, and again, you’d convince yourself it was some animal, but like always, you’d go downstairs. It would take some minutes, but eventually you’d see a silhouette through your curtains, and every time, you’d call 911.

It was always Steve who showed up. Sometimes he was alone, and sometimes he’d have that other officer, Bucky, with him. For some reason, you got the feeling that Bucky didn’t like you. You supposed that you couldn’t blame him. Night after night you called the cops on some perpetrator who they had yet to even see. It was probably frustrating, but you guaranteed it was a thousand times more frustrating for you.

On the 7th night, after walking around the property a total of 3 times, Steve approached you with a sigh. You already knew where this was going before he even opened his mouth, and you rolled your eyes.

“I’m not crazy,” you told him before he could even speak.

“I never said you were,” he responded in that placating tone that was becoming all too familiar to you.

It was starting to wear on your nerves.

“Someone is out here every night. They are messing with me!” you desperately said.

He pursed his lips, taking a step towards you, and you eyed him.

“Look, Y/N… I’ve seen this behavior before, and it isn’t uncommon-.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about victims of abuse.”

Your eyes widened, and your heart dropped to your stomach. You looked at him as if he’d punched you in the gut, and never mind how he knew, but the audacity to throw it in your face so callously. You took a deep breath before you spoke.

“Excuse me?” you gasped, a frown on your face.

He sighed.

“Your body language,” he explained. “I could tell from the first moment I met you. They train us for things like that.”

“I don’t care what they train you for. It’s incredibly rude of you-.”

“This is common with people like you. You’re paranoid, your thoughts get the best of you, you convince yourself of things that aren’t happening…”

Your head started swimming, and you felt like you were going to pass out. _How dare he!_

“You’re not crazy, just…traumatized, Y/N” he finished.

You clenched your jaw, glaring at him now. God, you wanted to wipe that look off of his pretty face, but he’d probably arrest you.

“Whatever has happened in the past has nothing to do with what’s happening now. Someone is tormenting me every night, and it seems like you won’t take me seriously until I’m dead,” you spat. “…and that’s Ms. Y/L/N to you.”

You turned and slammed the door in his face before he could respond.

You didn’t sleep much that night, too frustrated and angry. Why did he think it was appropriate to throw that in your face like that? It didn’t negate the fact that someone was prowling around your house almost every night, and no one was taking you seriously. You were growing worried, and you knew it wouldn’t be long before this started to affect your daily life too. You couldn’t be dealing with this when school started, and Wanda agreed.

“Have you tried talking to someone?”

You frowned at her.

“What? Like…a _therapist_?”

She rushed to continue at the look on your face.

“I’m not saying that you’re imagining it. We both know that nothing serious ever happens in this town, but I’m not naïve enough to completely write off any possibility. I just think that if you show that you’re dealing with whatever happened to you, and you have credible support to agree that you aren’t imagining things, maybe Steve and the rest will be more inclined to take this seriously.”

It sounded like a good idea, but you didn’t think it should come to that, and that’s what you told her.

“You’re right, but what else can you do? Eventually, they’re going to stop taking your calls seriously and might even charge you for a false 911 call.”

You groaned.

“God, I bet Officer Rogers is telling everyone at the station what a nut I am,” you whispered, resting your forehead on your hands.

“Steve’s not like that. He’s just concerned. Are you sure you didn’t misinterpret what he said?”

You scoffed.

“There was no misunderstanding about it. He threw my past in my face in the most callous way possible and proceeded to use it as evidence to support his claim that I am simply imagining things.”

“That just…doesn’t sound like Steve,” she hummed.

“Of course, it doesn’t,” you mumbled just as the bell dinged, signaling customers entering the diner.

Wanda looked up, and by the look on her face, you knew who had just come in.

“Welcome in,” she greeted, standing.

Her voice drifted away, and you assumed she was seating them to a table. You closed your eyes and rubbed your temples, mulling over what to do. You were preparing yourself for another sleepless night. You were pulled from your thoughts by the clearing of a throat, and you opened your eyes, gaze connecting with a familiar one.

Steve stood in front of you, sans uniform, and threw you a small smile. His hair wasn’t so neat today, a couple strands kissing his forehead. He was wearing a plain fitted white tee. The last time you saw him out of uniform, he’d had on a leather jacket, and it put your nerves on end to confirm that he was indeed as muscular as you thought.

“Ms. Y/L/N,” he greeted. “Can I steal you away for a moment?”

The hesitation must have been written all over your face, so he continued.

“I wanted to apologize for last night.”

You gave a jerky nod and stood, following him outside. You folded your arms over your chest as you waited for him to speak.

“I shouldn’t have said that last night. It was uncalled for, and while I had the best intentions, it was still wrong. I’m sorry,” he said.

You simply nodded and watched as he darted his tongue out to swipe over his bottom lip.

“…I was correct in my assumption though, wasn’t I?”

“I don’t really think that’s any of your business. Besides, you seemed sure enough in your assumption last night,” you told him.

Steve took a step towards you, and you eyed him.

“I know it isn’t any of my business, but it doesn’t have to be that way…”

Your brows furrowed.

“People in this town, they don’t just see Officer Rogers when they look at me. They see someone they trust…a friend. They confide in me, and I want you to feel comfortable to do the same.”

You weren’t sure how to respond to that.

“I _do_ want to help you. I know it may not seem like it, but it’s the truth. I imagine this is quite hard for you,” he continued.

“It is,” you confirmed. “…and that’s why its so frustrating that nothing is being done.”

“I wish I could do more, but my ranking prevents that. If I had it my way, I’d stakeout your house every night,” he confessed.

“You’d do that?” you wondered hopefully.

He took another step towards you.

“I would. My superiors don’t have to know _everything_ I do at night…”

You only took note of his close proximity when you realized you could feel his body heat. You squirmed under his gaze, and he chuckled.

“Unfortunately, I can’t though. If they found out, I’d have no good excuse for being there so late at night. It would be a different story if we were, let’s say, seeing each other, but that isn’t the case…,” he trailed off.

Your heart skipped a beat, and your mind whirled, wondering if you were imagining the implications behind his words, perhaps misinterpreting the way he worded that. You blinked when he took another step closer, eyes gleaming.

“It’s really a shame too, because I know it won’t be long before they hit you with a charge for a false emergency call,” he admitted, and your eyes widened.

He tilted his head at you, a frown on his own face.

“If things were perhaps… _different_ , there’d be a lot more that I could do, but unfortunately for you, they aren’t.”

No.

You weren’t crazy.

The man before you was definitely insinuating what you suspected he was, and your stomach churned. You stumbled back, away from him, heart going haywire in your chest as you ran your eyes over him.

“No…they aren’t. If you’ll excuse me,” you rushed out, jerking the door of the diner open.

You were quick to grab your purse, tensing when you heard him enter behind you. Wanda called out to you, but you were already out of the door, not sparing Steve Rogers a glance.

  


Days later, you were pushing your grocery cart to your car, glad to have it back. Your taillight was fixed, and you’d been the only one responsible for driving it home. Per your inspection, there was no more damage done to it.

You’d just parked it beside the vehicle, preparing to load your groceries inside when you heard someone calling for you. You didn’t realize they were trying to get _your_ attention at first, after all “ma’am” wasn’t exactly specific. However, when you looked up, your eyes met the grocer who often bagged them for you.

He was holding a bag as he ran towards you, brown hair bouncing, and he panted as he slowed. He held the bag out, nearing you with a smile.

“You forgot this,” he said, short of breath.

“Oh! Thank you,” you told him, taking it from his hand. “I didn’t even notice. Sorry you had to run all the way out here.”

“It’s no problem,” he cheerily told you. “I wanted to anyway. Didn’t want you to miss them.”

You threw him an appreciate smile, and he opened his mouth to say something else when something over your shoulder caught his attention.

“How would May feel about you flirting with customers instead of doing your job?” a familiar voice teased.

You jumped, glancing over your shoulder to find none other than Steve there, in uniform as he leaned against the back of your car, a smile playing on his lips. The kid before you grumbled.

“I wasn’t flirting, Officer Rogers,” he mumbled, face flushed. “I was just returning some groceries she left.”

“Sure,” Steve mocked, making the kid’s face redden more.

You frowned at him, not liking the way he was embarrassing the teen.

“Thank you,” you told him again, throwing him a strained smile, trying to convey how sorry you were for the blond man’s behavior.

He nodded, throwing one last look at Steve before sulking away. You sighed, unlocking your car.

“You didn’t have to embarrass him like that, you know.”

Steve stepped closer, and you threw him a withering look.

“I was only teasing. Peter knows that. Here, let me help you-.”

“I’ve got it,” you interrupted, but he didn’t listen.

You huffed as he loaded your groceries into the backseat. When he was done, he stepped back, and he placed his hand on your waist to move you back while he closed the door, causing your eyes to widen. His fingers trailed from your waist to your stomach when he moved to push the cart away, and you stumbled back. The encounter happened so fast that you wondered if you’d imagined it to be something it wasn’t.

You were still stunned when he made his way back to you, and you made sure you were far away when he opened your door for you. Eyeing him, you tightened your grip on your purse and your keys before shakily sliding into the seat. You went to close the door, but he prevented you from doing so.

Your grip on the door handle tightened as he pressed one hand to the top of the door, stepping closer as he pressed the other to the hood of your car over your head. Goosebumps broke out over your flesh at his close proximity, and as you looked around, you realized that no one would think anything of it. Officer Steve Rogers, ever the helpful gentleman, was simply helping a woman with her groceries and into her car.

You looked away from him, staring through the windshield just as he spoke.

“I see you haven’t called the station in a few days. Does that mean everything’s alright?”

You swallowed.

No. Everything wasn’t alright. In fact, it was the opposite. The noises had never stopped, sometimes even escalating to knocks on your door. That never lasted long though. 5 to 7 minutes at the most, and each night you just had to force yourself to ignore it. What could you do? If you called again, and they found no one there, you’d be charged. Steve had said so himself.

“Yes,” you lied. “Everything’s fine, now.”

He hummed, leaning in, and you darted your eyes to meet his.

“I’m glad to hear that. I thought that maybe you’d heeded my warning. Either way, I’m happy. The last thing I’d want to see is you doing some minor jail time for a false 911 call. That’s a misdemeanor, you know,” he informed you.

You clenched your jaw.

“Yes, I know,” you bit out.

The arm that was above you moved, and paranoid as usual, you jumped, dropping your keys into your lap. Steve reached for them before you could, and your eyes widened, heart dropping to your stomach as his hand slid between your thighs. He was quick in grabbing them, hand grazing along the inside of your thigh just before placing them in your trembling hand.

He wrapped his own hand around yours as he did so, and you looked at him with glassy eyes, somewhat in disbelief of what had just happened. What was currently happening. His blue eyes sparkled as they bore into your frightened ones, and he leaned in.

“I’m glad you’re being smart about this. Believe me, I wish I could do more. I’d love nothing more than to protect you properly…”

His voice was scarily calm, and you attempted to pull your hand out of his grip, but he tightened his hold, the corner of his lips quirking upwards.

“…but the way…circumstances are right now, I can’t. But I am here if you decide to give it any more thought.”

You frowned, lips trembling when he finally let you go. You hugged your hand to your chest as he stepped back, refusing to look at him now.

“Drive safe,” he said, just before closing your door for you.

You immediately locked it, breath shaky and body trembling. You blinked back the tears that had started to collect, and it took you a whole 20 minutes to finally get your bearings and start your car. If you had doubts about Steve’s behavior before, they were long gone now.


	3. Chapter 3

The man behind the counter welcomed you with a warm smile as you approached. Maybe he could sense your uneasiness as you hesitantly placed your hands on the counter, looking at him with a nervous smile.

“Hi,” you quietly greeted. “Um… I need a gun.”

The brunette chuckled, blue eyes filled with mirth as he eyed you.

“No kidding,” he replied, gesturing around to the rest of the gun and hunting and supplies store.

“Right,” you chuckled. “I just… I need something small and easy to handle.”

You bit your lip, and his face slowly grew solemn as he ran his eyes over you.

“You don’t look like a hunting kind of gal,” he quietly insinuated.

You shook your head.

“No.”

He nodded in understanding before inhaling as he straightened, turning to eye the wall behind him. He paced, eyes roaming over the assortment of guns, and you took the time to look around. Never in your life did you imagine yourself in a place like this, but you were tired of being a sitting duck in someone else’s twisted games. You’d been through that once already…

“Here…”

You turned, eyes falling to the small gun in his hand as he neared the counter again. It was small enough to throw into your purse or hide in your car, whenever you got a license, and it looked easy enough to operate. It was perfect.

“I want this one,” you told him.

“Figured you would. It’s a Ruger LC9. It’s a 9mm caliber semi-automatic. Super simple to operate and will still get the job done,” he murmured.

He showed you how to load it, turning the magazine over and going over its features. You nodded as you followed along and grabbed your wallet without hesitation. He eyed you again as he took your cash.

“You talk to the police?”

“For what?” you wondered.

“For whatever’s got a girl like you buying a gun on a Monday morning,” he explained.

You sighed.

“Yeah, I’ve talked to them, but since no crime has been committed, there isn’t much they can do. I refuse to just sit around and wait for someone to hurt me. I’m done with that,” you told him.

He nodded and stuck his hand out.

“The name’s Clint. If you have any questions or…need to come back here, you know how to find me.”

You shook his hand and threw him a grateful smile.

“Thanks.”

The weapon felt so heavy in your purse, and even though the safety was on, you were careful in placing the bag in your car. The ride home was spent stewing over your thoughts. There was too much that you had to consider, and instead of spending the rest of the summer making lesson plans for when school started back, you were worrying about some stranger stalking your house at night.

Here you were doing the cops’ job for them.

That thought drew your mind to Officer Rogers, and you clenched your jaw. There was a time when you gave people the benefit of the doubt, but after your marriage, you couldn’t afford to do that anymore. How glad you were to be wary of the blond cop from the beginning.

His behavior had officially crossed questionable and dove straight into terrifying. You feared to imagine what would have happened had you accepted his proposal for dinner. You didn’t understand his behavior…not one bit. Was he punishing you for turning him down? Surely, that couldn’t be it. It seemed so…silly. Childish even.

Wanda had stated that just about every woman in town had been trying to lock down the man since he moved here. You could believe it. You’d have to be hard of seeing to deny how attractive he was, and coupled with his profession, you could definitely see why he was popular with the women in town. He was a _seemingly_ kind man with the face of an angel, sworn to protect those in need. He was like something out of a cheesy romance novel.

You knew better though.

You’d been on the receiving end of his gaslighting tactics, his nicely veiled threats, and his wandering hands. The real kicker about his behavior though, was that he hadn’t done anything concrete enough to go to anyone with. None of what he did was objectively outright enough to report him with. Wanda had already asked you if you’d misunderstood his quip about your past abuse. You could just imagine anyone else’s face when you told them of how he brushed your waist and held your hand. ‘Oh, the horror!’ they’d say.

You hid your gun in your nightstand as soon as you got inside of your house. You hoped that you wouldn’t have to use it. You’d never been the type to resort to violence, but your ex-husband had changed all of that. If the cops wouldn’t do their job and protect you, _without_ an incentive, then you’d do it yourself.

Hours later, you did just that.

You were half asleep anyway, having been going in and out of consciousness all night. The noise had come from the front of your yard this time, and you peeled your eyes open, slowly blinking as you heard it again. You had swiftly flicked the switch on your lamp and slipped your hand into your drawer to grab the weapon you’d bought.

You licked your lips, slowly sitting up. You looked down, making sure that the safety was off just before exiting your room. It was quiet outside as you quietly crept downstairs. You felt silly, standing in your living room in your oversized t-shirt, both hands on this toy-sized gun. You glanced at all of the windows, and when you didn’t see anything, you crept into the kitchen.

The silence made you nervous because you knew he was still out there. You turned towards the window and didn’t see anyone through the curtain. You weren’t convinced though, and you remained still. Sure enough, a bulky silhouette came into view as they glided past the kitchen. With wide eyes, you raised your arms, the gunshot making your ears ring as glass shattered.

You watched as he clutched his arm before taking off, a deep grunt traveling through the broken window. Hurriedly, you ran after him, throwing the door open before sprinting outside. Your yard was empty, and you had your gun raised before you as you paced the yard, spinning around. It was quiet…empty of anyone else it seemed.

They were gone, but fortunately, you knew that you’d hit them. You were just about to lower your weapon when you had a thought. With wide eyes, you ran back into the house. You were quick in grabbing your phone from upstairs before sprinting back outside. You turned the flashlight on as you neared the grass just below your window.

There, before you, were a few spots of blood, and hope bloomed in your chest. You let out a chuckle, feeling confident for the first time in a while. You put the safety back on the gun and laid it on the kitchen counter as soon as you were back inside. You grabbed a paper towel, stepping back out into the cool night air. You were wiping up the blood with the napkin when red and blue flashes suddenly filled your vision.

You stood and turned, watching as a police cruiser parked along your curb. The cop who stepped out was familiar to you, but it wasn’t the last person you wanted to see. Bucky strode across your yard to approach you, a less than enthusiastic look on his face.

“We got a call about gunshots. They listed your residence as the source,” he said as soon as he was close enough.

Your lips parted, and you glanced away. The blue-eyed man sighed at that.

“Ms. Y/L/N,” he admonished.

“What other choice did I have? None of you can do anything until I get hurt, and why would I wait around for that? The state doesn’t require a license to keep one on my property. It was self-defense,” you defended.

He frowned at that, running his eyes over you, alarmed.

“ _What_ was self-defense?” he slowly questioned.

You shoved the napkin at him, and his eyes widened.

“I shot him…Officer Barnes. I know I did! I got him in the arm, and now you have his blood, his DNA! You can test it, see if there’s a match in the system-.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” he said, attempting to calm you down.

You hadn’t realized that you were talking so fast, and you apologized.

“Here,” you said, turning to walk into your house.

He followed you, watching as you put the bloody napkin into a Ziplock bag before handing it to him. He gingerly took it, eyeing it before heaving a sigh.

“Well…the evidence is pretty damning. We’ll test it as soon as possible,” he eventually said.

Sighing in relief, you nodded. You watched as he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied you. There was a twinkle in his blue eyes, and it struck you how much like Steve’s they were.

“Ms. Y/L/N…is there anyone who’d want to hurt you? Anyone at all?”

You opened your mouth to reply in the negative when you suddenly froze. Familiar blond hair and blue eyes came to mind, and you blinked, a realization falling over you.

“Killian,” you murmured as if just remembering him.

“Sorry?”

You shook your head, eyes meeting Bucky’s again.

“M-my ex-husband. He’s the only one I can think of…”

“I assume it ended badly?”

“That’s an understatement,” you scoffed. “He was advised by his lawyers to go through with the divorce when I filed. It wasn’t his choice, at all, but it was in his best interest.”

The other man simply stared at you.

“He wasn’t…a good man. Not at all. I wish I could say all of it was verbal and psychological, but I had no choice but to come clean when I landed in the hospital. It wasn’t looking good for him and refusing to go through with the divorce would make him look worse,” you explained.

Bucky sharply inhaled, nodding.

“I see…”

“I…can’t believe that I’d never considered him before. He has money, but I’d never thought he’d find me so quickly,” you murmured.

Bucky made his way to the door, and you followed.

“I’ll get this down to the station. You be careful with that gun,” he advised, and you nodded. “Have a good night.”

And for the first time in weeks, you did.

  


“You look well rested,” Wanda complimented, bringing your plate to you.

You returned her smile with a genuine one of your own.

“I _feel_ well rested. Hopeful, actually,” you replied.

“That’s good! So I take it things are a lot better at your place, now?”

“They will be,” you cheerily said, digging into your food.

“I’m glad to hear it, and what great timing too. It seems like Steve might be out of commission for a few days,” she told you. “So, it won’t be him responding to any 911 calls.”

You blinked up at her. You couldn’t care less about the blond cop in any way, and the information actually filled you with relief, but your curiosity got the better of you.

“Why?”

“He was shot,” was her simple response.

However, it made you feel anything but simple. You almost dropped your fork as you eyed her, brows furrowing as your heart dropped to your stomach.

“…what?”

“Yeah, in the arm…”

It felt like someone took a knife to your chest.

“…the word is that he was involved in a hunting accident.”

You forced yourself to swallow, mind whirling.

“When?”

She hummed, thinking.

“The day before yesterday, I believe,” she answered.

You wanted to be relieved at that, that it wasn’t last night, but…it all seemed too coincidental. No…there was no way. The thought alone made you want to be sick.

“How…awful,” you whispered.

“I know,” she pouted. “I’m baking him a cake tonight. Figured I’d head up to his house to deliver it to him.”

You pressed your lips together, trying, and failing, to talk yourself out of what you were about to do. You knew that you were paranoid, you’d never deny that, but you owed it to yourself. If only to quell your fears. You had to see…

“Uh…when are you heading over?”

“Probably in the morning,” she said just before welcoming some customers in.

“Can I come with? I’d like to check in on him too…”

She looked at you with a sly smile, and you grimaced.

“Growing on you, is he?”

“Hardly,” you scoffed. “It’s just… He’s always entertaining my concerns, responding to every call I’ve made. I feel like the least I can do is check on him, you know?”

She nodded, buying your lie.

“That’s really sweet of you. I’ll swing by your house around 8,” she said. “He lives pretty far out, so it’ll take about 45 minutes to get there.”

You nodded, and she left to go deal with some customers.

You swallowed, appetite lost, and you pushed your plate away. Your paranoia was really getting the best of you because a part of you actually believed that the person you shot last night was Officer Rogers. It was the most outlandish thing to think. The man was an officer of the law, and even though he proved that he didn’t deserve that title, there was a pretty big gap in between some creepy touches and a full-blown stalker.

You knew how it would sound if you voiced your fears to Wanda. People hunted around here all the time, hunting cabins forever common. It was perfectly believable, but…it seemed too coincidental. Besides, you figured there was no harm in seeing for yourself just to put your fears to rest. However, a small voice in your head wondered what you would do if you didn’t put them to rest at all, but only increased them?

What if you only confirmed your suspicions?

This plagued you all throughout the night and well into the morning when Wanda pulled into your yard. You locked up your house and hurried to her car, goosebumps rising on your flesh from the cool early morning air.

“So how far does he live?” you asked as soon as you were in the car.

“Do you remember where Dr. Banner lived before he left town?”

You nodded.

“Past that,” she replied, and you blinked.

“Why so far out?” you wondered.

“Steve likes his privacy. Plus, he’s really a nature kind of guy. Homebody too. I know our town is no _New York_ , but even it gets a bit too much for him sometimes,” she explained.

“Being secluded in a big house with Steve Rogers, out in the woods, sounds like something most women would be interested in. He definitely strikes me as the type to want kids and the whole nine, so why hasn’t he ever taken any offers? You said it yourself that he’s had plenty…”

You were beginning to realize that you didn’t know much about this man, at all. It seemed strange that someone like him hadn’t dated anyone in 6 years. You already knew that there was definitely something wrong with him, but could there be more? Like making you feel unsafe in your own home more?

“I don’t know,” she hummed. “He did have a short thing with Peggy when he first got here-.”

“ _Peggy?_ I could see that,” you said to yourself, wondering what had happened.

Wanda answered your unspoken question.

“Yeah, it didn’t last very long though,” she sighed. “She left as soon as it ended. I never did find out what happened exactly, but she was just gone one day. House emptied of everything, and her car was gone. I guess it ended pretty badly. Steve never talks about it.”

You frowned at that. You’d known Peggy growing up, and that didn’t seem like her. Unlike you, she was never the type to just take off. But so many years had passed. Steve came to town about 4 years after you left, and a lot could happen in 4 years. People could change, and you supposed that’s what had happened.

The rest of the car ride was filled with idle talk about things that had happened in the years. Wanda told you about her boyfriend, Vis. He’d move here about two years ago, and he apparently made her very happy. She’d been lonely ever since her brother Pietro had moved away not long after you did, and Vis apparently made her smile more.

Eventually the topic somehow came back to Steve...and Bucky and Sam.

“His name is James, but everyone calls him Bucky. Him and Sam were roommates in college and just remained that way ever since. They both moved down here about…4 years ago? They’re all like 3 peas in a pod, like brothers…”

Sam was Officer Wilson. You’d seen him in passing a few times, usually with Bucky. He seemed nice enough.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if one, or both, of them was up here already,” she said, taking a left into the trees.

The driveway was paved and long, curving every which way before it eventually straightened out. You realized that the car was going up an incline, and thick trees surrounded you on both sides. When Wanda said that he liked his privacy, she wasn’t exaggerating. The seclusion of it all could be considered peaceful if you ignored who lived here.

She pulled up in front of a nice two-story house, the light blue paint standing out amongst the dark trees. You had the small cake in one hand while you closed the car door with the other. You admired the scenery as you followed her. It was beautiful, there was no denying that, but the battered woman in you couldn’t help but to think how easy it would be to get away with anything. If you screamed, nobody would hear you.

You followed her around the side of the house towards the back deck, and with a start, you realized that the hill that the house sat on led down to a rather large lake. Fog hovered over the water in the early morning, and your lips parted at the sight, eyes running over the thick trees on the other side.

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” you murmured.

“He had it built before he officially moved down here. I don’t blame him for spending all of his free time at home. Who’d want to leave this?”

She knocked on the backdoor, and your nerves spiked as you realized that you would soon be coming face to face with the erasure of your fears…or something that would only worsen them. It took a few minutes before you heard him approaching the door. A greeting was already on his lips when he opened it, but it died when his eyes landed on you.

“Wanda…and Ms. Y/L/N. Come on in,” he greeted, stepping back.

“Hey, Steve. I wanted to bring that cake by before I had to go to work,” she said with a smile.

You followed her inside and shuddered when your shoulder grazed Steve’s chest.

“Y/N wanted to check on you too, make sure you’re alright,” Wanda added.

You looked at him with a small smile, noticing the long-sleeved shirt he had on.

“It’s the least I can do after responding to all of my calls,” you told him.

He returned the smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“I appreciate that,” he whispered. “You can just put it on the counter.”

He gestured to the kitchen, with his right arm you noted, and you followed his instruction. You could hear him and Wanda talking in the living room while you slid the plate on the granite countertop. You glanced around, noting how homey it looked. You weren’t sure why that surprised you.

“Rough night?” you heard Wanda ask him as soon as you reentered the living room

Your eyes followed as she gestured to the several empty beer cans on the tv stand. Steve chuckled, placing his right hand on his hip, the left hanging limply at his side.

“Hardly. Sam and Buck came by last night. We just got into a few beers, watching some game that was on,” he replied.

You licked your lips.

“How’s your arm? Wanda told me it was a hunting accident…”

His gaze met yours, and the corner of his lip quirked up into a small smirk. He gestured to his arm, his left one, and relief filled you as he spoke.

“Yeah, Sam and I got a little careless out there. It’s just a graze, but nothing to worry your pretty little head about,” he responded.

Wanda chuckled at that while you fought not to sneer. You were just thankful that you’d put your fears to bed. The man you’d shot last night, you’d gotten him in his right arm. Steve was injured in his left, and you allowed yourself to breathe now.

“Can I use your bathroom?” you suddenly asked him.

“Yeah, sure! Just down the hall there,” he told you, gesturing behind him.

You thanked him and walked past him, Wanda’s voice reaching your ears as she asked him something. You went for the first door on your right, hand on the handle, when you were startled by a presence.

You looked up as Steve placed his hand on the small of your back, eyes widening as he pushed you along. His fingers pressed into your waist, and you shrunk in on yourself, a frown covering your features at his close proximity.

“Not that one,” he quietly told you. “That’s the basement.”

Your eyes met his now, and you quickly looked away at the intensity there.

“This one’s the bathroom,” he continued, opening a door, and flicking on the light for you.

You murmured a quiet ‘thanks’, flinching when he squeezed your hip one last time before returning to the living room. Your jaw clenched. He may not have been a stalker, but he was still a creep.

  


“I... I don’t understand. How long does it take to test some blood?”

The policewoman before you pursed her lips, arms resting on her desk.

“It can take up to a few days-.”

“Which it has been.”

“Yes, but the sample has to be sent to a lab, and we have to wait for the results,” she explained. “I understand your concern…”

“Do you?” you mumbled.

She chuckled, green eyes sparkling with mirth.

“I do. Why do you think I have the job I have anyway? I like being able to protect myself and other people,” she told you. “There was a time when I wasn’t able to…”

You sighed, glancing around the busy station. It was empty of a certain blond cop, and you were happy.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. You’re also a woman, so there’s no doubt that you definitely understand what I’m feeling. I just…I _have_ to know who this person is. I don’t feel safe in my own house.”

“I know,” she replied. “Steve talks about you a lot.”

Your heart skipped a beat at that, face falling.

“…he does?”

She hummed.

“He wishes that he could do more,” she said. “He worries about you. Of course, with this blood sample, I imagine he’ll be doing a lot more worrying. This is proof that someone is out there every night, messing with you.”

“Do you think this will be enough to convince your boss to let someone stakeout my house?”

She mulled it over, humming.

“You know what? It might be. I’ll definitely bring it up,” she replied, and hope bloomed within you.

You fidgeted in your seat, worrying your lip, and she frowned.

“Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?” she asked.

Her tone of voice told you that she knew you did, so you figured it was best to just come right out and say it.

“If you are able to get someone to watch my house at night…can it not be Officer Rogers?”

Her frown deepened, and she ran her eyes over you. She leaned in, a red strand grazing the side of her face as she studied.

“Now why would you request that?”

You didn’t feel like you had a valid reason to give her, not one that she’d believe anyway. Steve was a town favorite, so you had to come up with something that would make her listen to you.

“You and Officer Rogers are friends, right? You care about him?”

“Of course,” she said, urging you to continue.

“I know that he worries about me, and that’s why I think someone else should be assigned to this. If it gets approved, of course. I just worry that lines may start to blur…”

She straightened up at that.

“How do you mean?”

You let out a soft sigh.

“He did ask me to dinner a while back, and seeing as I only recently got divorced, I refused. I’m just not ready, and I know that he understands and has no problem waiting, but…”

You chuckled.

“He’s just so sweet. I still feel so bad about it, and I don’t want to make this any harder on him. Until I’m ready, I don’t want to give him the wrong idea. I think it’d be best for everyone if an objective pair of eyes were on this. Especially for his sake…”

She hummed, nodding in understanding.

“No, Ms. Y/L/N, that’s perfectly reasonable. I’m glad to hear that Steve is finally trying to get back into the dating pool though,” she said, standing, and you followed her lead. “It took him long enough.”

You simply threw her a smile.

“Well, thank you for listening to me, and please, call me as soon as those lab results come back.”

“I will,” she promised.

Your shoulders felt lighter as you stepped out of the police station. Soon, you could find out who was tormenting you and they’d be locked up. In addition, you wouldn’t have to deal with Steve for a while…or ever again. You could finally breathe again. Soon you’d have nothing at all to deal with aside from lesson plans, and bratty kids were nothing in comparison to this.

As you neared your yard, you realized, with disappointment, that you would be eating your words. A sleek black car was parked on the curb, and it took a minute for you to realize that it belonged to Steve. You’d just seen him a few days ago, so you were unsure why he was paying you a visit. Apprehension filled you as you parked.

He was already out of his car and slowly making his way towards you when you stepped out of your own. You sent him a tense smile, standing beside your driver’s door as you eyed him.

“Ms. Y/L/N,” he greeted.

“Officer Rogers.”

“I came by to thank you for the cake,” he told you.

“Oh,” you said with a frown, shaking your head. “There’s no need. Wanda made it. I just carried it in the house.”

You brushed past him, nearing your house, and you could hear him following.

“Still. It was very thoughtful of you to come by and check on me. Especially considering the night you had before…”

You paused and turned to look at him, brows furrowed. He had one foot on your steps while you stood on the porch, neat blond hair pushed away from his face.

“…sorry?”

“Bucky. He told me about what happened,” he explained.

“Ah,” you softly said.

You shouldn’t have been surprised. Wanda did say they were like brothers, after all.

“I confess that’s partially why I’m here. I wanted to see how you were fairing. That must have been terrifying for you,” he admitted, blue eyes inquiring as they drank you in.

You glanced down.

“Yeah…it was, but…I didn’t have much of a choice,” you said, looking at him. “I know you all are just doing your job, and I suppose I can’t blame you for that, but… I couldn’t just sit around and wait for someone to hurt me.”

He hummed, eyeing you.

“So do you know who it is?”

You shook your head.

“No, but I did get some of his blood. I talked to Officer Romanoff today, and she said that the lab results should be in any day, now,” you repeated what she had told you.

He nodded, making his way onto your porch now, and you stumbled back.

“Look, if you need-.”

“Officer Rogers,” you boldly interrupted, giving him pause.

His blue eyes were focused entirely on you as you swallowed, determined to put an end to this.

“Um… I have something to say…”

He straightened up, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared you down, waiting for you to continue. Your tongue darted out to swipe over your bottom lip, and you took a deep breath.

“I’ve always tried to give people the benefit of the doubt. Always, but…since my ex-husband, I don’t think I can really afford to do that anymore. For my own sake…”

Steve’s eyes had darkened, and you fought to hold his gaze.

“Your behavior makes me uncomfortable…and I want to say that perhaps you aren’t aware of it, but I don’t believe that. I think you know how you make me feel.”

You watched as he looked down his nose at you, jaw clenching and eyes hard, and you forced yourself to continue.

“If I offended you…or hurt you when I turned you down, that wasn’t my intention. Believe me, that was the farthest thing from my mind, and I don’t appreciate you acting so inappropriately towards me for it.”

His chest heaved with his deep breath, and you watched the way his cheek poked out, probably from his tongue. Satisfied with yourself, you took a step back.

“That’s all I had to say,” you finished, turning to go inside.

“Ms. Y/L/N, wait,” he finally spoke, reaching for your arm.

“Officer Rogers, please! I-.”

Your words were cut off by his loud grunt, pain lacing his tone. You had reached out to push him away, not liking the way he’d grabbed you. You frowned, chest clenching, feeling like someone had dropped a bucket of ice water over you as you watched him clutch his arm…his right arm.

He had reached for your right arm with his right hand, and in retaliation, you’d turned and pushed your left hand against…his right arm. Realization hit you, and your eyes widened as you looked at him with different eyes. Eyes filled with a fear unlike any other you’d ever experienced.

You stumbled back, heart dropping into your stomach as his gaze finally met yours. He opened his mouth to speak, but you were already rushing inside, locking the door behind you just as his fist banged against it.

“No,” you whispered to yourself, shaking your head.

He didn’t knock again, and you moved to the side, watching his silhouette through the curtains. It was getting late, the setting sun casting shadows everywhere, and feeling like you were going to be sick, you noted that the shape looked awfully familiar. He just stood there for a painful amount of time before eventually taking a step back and leaving altogether.

You placed your hand on your couch, struggling to stand. It was no use. You collapsed to the floor on your knees, taking your table and lamp with you, the fragile décor shattering upon impact with the floor. You pressed your hand to your forehead, entire body trembling as you realized what your subconscious had always suspected.

Officer Steve Rogers was the one tormenting you every night.


	4. Chapter 4

You didn’t sleep at all that night. Not because someone was banging on your house and skulking about your yard, but rather…the opposite. He didn’t come, and you were left alone with no one but you and your thoughts. You didn’t even know why you weren’t referring to him by name.

Steve.

Steve Rogers.

 _Officer_ Steve Rogers.

Officer Rogers was the one who’d been making your nights a living hell for weeks, and the thought made you want to hurl. In fact, that was exactly what you did. As soon as you’d gathered yourself enough to stand, you’d run straight to the bathroom, throwing up for several minutes. Your vision was blurry, body trembling as you hugged the toilet.

Your mind whirled as you fought to make sense of everything. At first, you’d tried to convince yourself that your mind was doing that thing again. Coming up with the most outrageous theories, but the more you thought on it…the more sense it made.

Didn’t police respond to emergency calls based upon who was closest? Steve responded to every single one of your calls, and you remembered that sometimes he wasn’t alone. Was Officer Barnes in on it too? He had to be. They always came in the same car.

You suddenly jumped up, remembering that you’d given the dark-haired cop that blood sample. Steve’s blood sample. His _best friend’s_ blood sample. You pressed your hand to your mouth, feeling like you were going to be sick again.

Officer Romanoff had said that the lab results could be back any day now, but… What if they had never been sent off to begin with? You wanted to cry, and with a start, you realized that you were. Tears were skipping down your face, and for the first time in a long time, you noted that they were tears from fear.

Should you go to the police?

You shook that thought from your mind. Your problem _was_ the police, and what would happen to you if you ran in there to tell them about a crooked, possibly two, cop in their midst? Surely it would get back to Steve, and now knowing what you knew, there was no telling what the man was capable of.

You’d stayed up all night, stewing over what to do. You’d gone over every option there was, and it seemed that the best course of action was to simply leave town. God, you were so tired of running, but this situation was much different from your last.

Sure, Aldrich had money, and had definitely used it to his advantage when escaping the law, but even the luck of someone like him had to run out sometime. He wasn’t completely untouchable. Steve… Steve _was_ the law. You could confront him, and he’d arrest you for whatever charge was believable, and there was no doubt in your mind who they’d be more inclined to listen to.

The thought that Steve could do whatever he wanted and get away with it was a terrifying one. Hell, he _had_ been doing whatever he wanted and had gotten away with it. More tears collected behind your eyes, thinking about the fact that he’d been harassing you during the day and the night. He’d pretty much been in control of every facet of your daily life, and you wondered to yourself…

What did he want?

Was he truly so angry that you’d turned him down? You let out a humorless chuckle, thinking to yourself that you should’ve just gone on the stupid date to save yourself all of this strife. Another part of you argued against that, telling you there was no telling what would have happened on that date or what would have happened after.

It was in the early hours of the morning, and you were packing now. You’d finally made up your mind to just get the hell out of dodge. You didn’t have time to pack up everything and properly move, so a suitcase worth of clothes would do until you sorted everything out. You’d stay in a hotel for a while, whatever it took to get away from him.

You contemplated going by the diner first to see Wanda. You didn’t want a repeat of last time. You wanted to keep in touch, but you decided that your safety came first. You could always look the phone number to the diner up and reconnect with her later. You had just locked up your house, turning towards your car with your suitcase in hand, when a police cruiser pulled into your yard.

Your heart stopped, and you tightened your grip on the handle of your suitcase. Relief did not fill you when none other than Officer Barnes stepped out of the car. You swallowed, warily eyeing him. You were almost positive that he was in on it with Steve. You weren’t sure, but the evidence was damning.

He sent you a friendly smile as he approached you, and you did not return it.

He never smiled at you.

“Morning, Ms. Y/L/N,” he greeted.

“Morning,” you mumbled back.

He stopped at the bottom of your steps, lifting one foot to rest on the bottom step as he looked up at you, blue eyes unreadable. You watched the way they traveled from your face to your suitcase and back.

“Going somewhere?”

You thought about telling him the truth, knowing he’d relay it to Steve, thinking that it would make him happy to see you go, but… You didn’t exactly know why Steve was doing this to you. You didn’t know his motive nor his endgame, so maybe it was best to keep him in the dark.

“Not anytime soon,” you joked, forcing a chuckle. “I’m just going to drop some things off at Goodwill…”

The dark-haired man hummed, nodding as he studied you.

“What brings you here so early in the morning?” you casually asked, moving to walk past him.

“Truthfully…Steve,” he answered.

You frowned, heart skipping a beat, and you were glad that your back was to him as you made your way to your car.

“Steve?” you wondered over your shoulder.

Bucky hummed.

“He was worried about you. Said you seemed pretty upset yesterday…”

You slid your suitcase into the backseat, pursing your lips before shutting the door and turning to face him.

“Upset?” you repeated.

You didn’t like the way he eyed you, and it was then that you knew… Your suspicions were correct. There seemed to be an unspoken battle between you two, both of you trying to figure the other out, seeing who’d slip up first. You had been through this a million times with Aldrich…

“He said that you…seemed confused and distraught…accusing him of some pretty awful things…”

You blinked, lips parting before letting out a soft scoff.

“Oh my God, you’re right. I did,” you guiltily replied. “I’ve been so stressed lately, and Officer Rogers has been nothing but kind to me, and I completely misinterpreted it.”

Bucky appeared to be shocked by your response.

“I’m still working through things, trying to undo a lot of what my ex-husband did. I took it out on Officer Rogers, and I feel terrible.”

He didn’t respond right away, simply eyeing you before slowly nodding. You turned to slide into your driver’s seat, glancing up at him with a small smile.

“Will he be working today? I’d really like to apologize to him properly. If not, I suppose that I can go up to his house later,” you offered.

He ran his eyes over you, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards ever so slightly.

“No…he isn’t in today,” he eventually replied.

“Then I’ll stop by his house later then. If not later then definitely in the morning,” you told him.

The two of you just stared at each other for a moment before he smiled at you.

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate that. Drive safe, Ms. Y/L/N.”

He moved to leave, and you stopped him.

“I also wanted to ask you about the blood sample I gave you. Officer Romanoff said that the results should be back any day now, and I was wondering if they’d come in yet…”

He sadly shook his head.

“I’m afraid not. The ETA for these things are never exact, anyway. I’m sure we’ll get the results back soon though,” he answered, but you didn’t believe him.

You nodded, and he bid you goodbye one last time. He closed your door for you, and you looked in your mirror, watching him go back to his car. He sat in it for a while, but you sighed in relief when he eventually drove off. You closed your eyes, hands gripping the wheel as you forced yourself to take a deep breath.

Bucky was in on it too. You were absolutely sure of it. Forcing both him and Steve from your mind, you went to start your car, only to frown when it sputtered. You twisted your key again, but again, it wouldn’t start.

“No, no, no,” you murmured, forcing yourself to remain calm.

You tried again, and sure enough, you got the same results. You bit your lip, swallowing down a scream. Something within you knew why your car wouldn’t start, knew who was responsible. You took out your phone, looking up the number for the auto repair shop with shaky hands.

30 minutes later, you were watching your car being hooked up to the tow truck. When the man was finished, he approached you. A smile was on his face, and he was clearly trying to ease your worries.

“It shouldn’t take long to determine the problem and have it back here,” he told you.

“About how long do you think it’ll take?”

He hummed, thinking.

“There are already two other cars at the shop. After getting done with them and finally fixing yours, I should be able to have it back here no later than…7:30? 7:45?”

It seemed like you didn’t have much choice but to accept that, so what else could you do besides nod? At least you’d be able to get out of here tonight at the latest. You wrapped your arms around yourself as you watched the man drive away. You felt like a sitting duck, but you had no other option but to go inside.

The first hour dragged by. You tried to distract yourself with cleaning and then some tv, but eventually you gave up and just sat on the couch. You couldn’t believe that you were running again, that you had somehow found yourself in a possibly worst situation than the one you’d left.

By the second hour, you were restless. You grabbed your purse and rose from the couch, swiftly locking the door on the way out. You had made sure that all of the lights were off, and everything was unplugged. You wouldn’t be going back inside.

Ever thankful that the diner was within walking distance from your house, you strode into the establishment with a sigh. Still rather early, it was pretty empty inside. Wanda was nowhere to be found, so you took a seat in the corner. You’d been scrolling through your phone for about 5 minutes when the bell above the door dinged.

You didn’t think anything of it. However, you looked up when the customer spoke. He was at the counter, back facing you as he talked to Wanda who’d finally come from the back. A black leather jacket adorned his large frame, the color contrasting with his fair hair. Swallowing, you looked away just as he turned around, eyes falling to your phone.

Your heart went crazy beneath your chest as you heard him approach. You wondered if he’d talked to Bucky, because if so, that would alter how you interacted with him in the next 30 seconds. When he got close enough, you looked up, seemingly just noticing him, and you threw him a small smile.

“Ms. Y/L/N,” he greeted, demeanor giving no indication of what had transpired yesterday.

“Officer Rogers,” you replied. “I’m glad you’re here…”

He hummed, placing a hand on the chair across from you, the other on his hip.

“Yeah, I came down to pick up something to go. The boss is still forcing me to stay home.”

You swallowed, nodding.

“I actually wanted to apologize to you, Officer Rogers,” you said.

You didn’t register any type of surprise in his eyes. He looked completely unfazed, demeanor remaining the same, and you knew that he’d already spoken with Bucky, confirming what you’d suspected. Still, you continued.

“With everything going on, I’m just so stressed and stretching myself far too thin. Not to mention, I haven’t even been divorced for 6 months. There’s a lot that I’m still dealing with, and I took that out on you in probably the worst way possible,” you explained. “You’ve only ever tried to help me.”

He smirked, and you wanted to wipe it from his face.

“There’s no hard feelings. I completely understand,” he said, pulling the chair out and taking a seat.

You forced yourself not to frown at that. He reached out, with his left hand you noted, to brush a finger along your clasped hands on the table, and you tensed.

“I told you before, if there’s ever anything that you need to talk about, I’m here to listen. I want you to feel as comfortable around me as everyone else in this town,” he quietly added.

You slowly pulled your hands back to rest them on your lap, watching the way his brow twitched ever so slightly. You’d dealt with men like him before. Your ex-husband did that, usually when in public, a tell-tale sign that he was unhappy. They seemed to be more alike than you originally thought.

Before you could respond to that, Wanda was calling for him, letting him know that his food was ready. He sent you one last smile before rising and leaving you alone once again. Wanda strode over as soon as he was gone, a grin on her face.

“You two looked cozy,” she said. “What brings you by so early in the morning?”

“My car is in the shop, so I’m just killing time,” you answered, ignoring her quip about you and Steve.

“Hope everything’s okay with it,” she earnestly replied, handing you a menu. “So, are you going to order anything? I’ll make it on the house.”

“Oh, Wanda, you don’t have to do that,” you said, waving her off.

“Don’t be silly, Y/N, it’s nothing! You’ve had such a horrible string of bad luck lately, the least I can do is try to cheer you up…”

Reluctantly, you accepted her offer, and roamed your eyes over the menu.

  


When you strode into your yard it was around 7. Sure enough, like the man had said earlier, around 7:45 in the evening, your car was being parked alongside your curb. He mentioned that something had been wrong with the battery and that it hadn’t taken long at all to fix. He didn’t say it outright, but the way he spoke made you believe he thought someone had tampered with it. You believed so too, but you didn’t tell him that.

15 minutes later, you were on the road and making your way out of town. You didn’t exactly have a plan. For now, you looked to stay at the first hotel you could find in another city, staying in a room there for a while to consider your next course of action.

Never in a million years did you think something like this could happen to you, and in your tiny hometown no less. You shook your head, thinking about how Officer Rogers had everyone fooled. You wondered what else he’d gotten away with? Surely, he didn’t just wake up one morning with a change of heart and decided to torment you. People usually do what they know they can get away with, right?

You’d only been driving for maybe 25 minutes when your car suddenly stalled. Your eyes widened, and you rushed to turn the key, hoping that maybe it was a minor problem that would solve itself. You moved to turn it back on, but it only spluttered. Again, you tried, but the engine wouldn’t start, and your heart sank.

You glanced around along the long stretch of road, noting that no cars were around, and you doubted any would be anytime soon. It was getting dark, now, and worry filled you. You weren’t completely out of town yet, hadn’t even crossed the city limits, but there was no way you could walk anywhere. You were too far out, and you’d be crazy to.

You wanted to cry, but you forced the tears back, telling yourself that you had to think smart about this. You tried the ignition again, but like before, the engine wouldn’t start. You considered getting out to look under the hood, but you weren’t very familiar with the inside of a car. You knew to check the oil and knew when to put more freon in the car, but that was about it. Besides, you’d seen enough horror films to know to sit your ass in your car.

However, your location was a problem. You were, quite literally, in the middle of the road. Granted, if someone came up from behind you, it wasn’t like they couldn’t see you, but still. You didn’t like just sitting here. You took out your phone, thankful for your carrier because you actually had a few bars surrounded by all of these trees.

You were in the process of looking up the number to the diner, preparing to call Wanda, when red and blue suddenly surrounded you. Fear gripped you as you jerked your head up, confirming that there were definitely lights flashing from behind you. You dropped your phone in your lap as you turned around. A police cruise was parked on the side of the road behind you, and you felt your body grow numb for several different reasons.

What if it was Steve? You were alone out here, no one around to witness anything that could happen. The thought made you want to vomit. On the other hand, what if it wasn’t Steve? The thought still made you want to be sick because, again, you were alone out here…

You turned back around just as the door opened, taking a deep breath. Forcing your eyes up, you looked into the rearview mirror, only to sigh in relief, the tension easing from your shoulders. The cop walked up to your door, and luckily, your window was already halfway down when your car stopped. His dark eyes met yours, a friendly smile on his lips.

“Officer Wilson,” you breathed, hoping the relief wasn’t too obvious in your voice.

You’d never known him to be anything but nice. Besides, he never came with Steve to your house, so you long guessed that he wasn’t in on it with Steve and Bucky. You would’ve been more relieved had it been Officer Romanoff, but he would do. You wondered how he’d react if he knew what his friends were up to.

“Ms. Y/L/N,” he greeted. “Car trouble?”

“Yes,” you told him. “It just…it just stopped. I’ve tried to start it a couple of times, but nothing.”

He hummed.

“Going somewhere?”

You contemplated on whether or not to be truthful, but eventually you nodded.

“Just out of town. I have some things to do,” you kept it vague.

He nodded with a frown, eyes trailing over your car.

“You want me to take a look under the hood for you?” he offered.

“Would you? I’d appreciate that so much,” you answered.

He chuckled.

“Sure thing! Just let me get my flashlight out of the car,” he told you.

You frantically nodded, and he walked away. You wrung your hands together as you waited for him. You absentmindedly glanced around, and your eyes flickered over your passenger side mirror. You froze, frowning a bit as you questioned what you saw. Slowly, you flickered your eyes back to the passenger mirror, and they widened.

There, in the passenger seat of the police cruiser, was none other than Officer Barnes. Your lips trembled, heart hammering within your chest as you watched him talk to Sam, eyes on you. You could tell that he couldn’t see you looking at him through the mirror. You brought your eyes up to the rearview mirror, watching as Sam animatedly said something to him. You looked back to see Bucky doing the same. They seemed to be arguing about something.

Adrenaline on high, it took everything in you to keep your movements slow. You turned the ignition, but you were met with the same results as last time. You swallowed, tears collecting in your eyes now as you tried again.

“Come on, come on,” you quietly pleaded.

You looked up and watched in horror as both doors of the cruiser opened. Shaking your head, you turned the key again, _hard_ , and gasped when your car roared to life. You heard Sam yell your name, but your foot was already pressing on the gas.

It wasn’t long before you heard the cruiser behind you, closing the distance. You were terrified to press your foot all the way down. You wanted to escape them, but you also didn’t want to die in the process. You forced your tears back, already hard enough to see as it is in the darkness. Your brights were on, but with the cruiser’s lights directly behind you, they weren’t much help.

You screamed when their bumper tapped the back end of your car. They did it again, and your fingers tightened on the wheel. You could see them coming up beside you, and before they had a chance to get level with your car, you slammed on the breaks. They flew past you before eventually slamming on breaks too. By the time they moved to turn around, you had already hit a U-Turn and were in the process of driving away.

Unfortunately, there was one thing that you hadn’t counted on.

Your car swerved when a gunshot rang out, the sound of your tire exploding not far behind. You struggled to take control of the car, realizing with horror that you were swerving off of the road and into the trees. You missed the first couple, but you shrieked when the side of your car grazed another. Your ran over fallen limbs and even a fallen trunk, roughly turning your wheel as not to come in contact with one head on.

It seemed that you were destined to do just that though. Your eyes widened at the large tree up ahead, and, in a panic, you jerked your wheel to the left, wincing when the right side of your car hit the tree instead, glass shattering. You released a shaky breath, pressing your hand to your head. Through the haze, you noted that you didn’t hear the cruiser approaching, but that just meant they were on foot.

With shaky hands, you struggled to open your car door. You slid out and fell to the ground, slowly pushing yourself onto your hands and knees, telling yourself to move faster. One hand on the car, you pulled yourself to your feet. Your vision swam as you stumbled through the trees, tripping over limbs and holding onto trunks as you passed them.

Your vision was starting to spin, and you shook your head, trying clear it. You could hear some fallen branches loudly snapping from behind you, and fear struck you. They didn’t even care to be stealthy, confident that they’d get you either way.

“Y/N!”

Your stomach churned at the way Bucky sang your name, the sound echoing around you in the darkness. They were closer than you thought, because you heard Sam say something to him that you couldn’t make out, and Bucky chuckled in response, that too echoing around you.

Unable to see where you were going, your foot landed in a hole, and you gasped as your ankle bent. You crashed to the ground, hitting your head, and your chest heaved. The footsteps were closer now, and you rolled over to crawl away just as a foot landed on your injured ankle.

You cried out, and someone’s hand wrapped around your arm, turning you over onto your back. You could make them out in the darkness, and you kicked your uninjured leg, hands swinging as you fought them off. You heard Sam grunt as your foot connected with his knee, and he stumbled back. Fed up, Bucky’s hand found your throat, pinning you to the ground as he straddled you, and you spit in his face.

He tightened his grip at that, and you whimpered.

“He wants her unharmed, Buck,” Sam reminded him, and the blue-eyed man scoffed.

“Yeah, well, maybe he should’ve gone after a girl with a little less fire-.”

His words were cut off by his yelp, and you dug your nails deeper into his face. Your other hand swung towards his neck, but his free hand caught it before you could do any damage, slamming your wrist to the ground.

“Damnit, Sam! Her hand! Grab her hand,” he snarled, struggling to keep you pinned beneath him, the haze finally clearing from your mind.

Your other hand was ripped away from him and held to the ground. He let go of your throat, and you bucked against him as he reached for something in his jacket. You couldn’t see what it was, not just because it was dark, but because tears were blurring your vision. He pressed it to your face, and you cried harder when you realized that it was a rag. It smelled funny, and you could guess what was soaking it.

You renewed your struggle, but they simply tightened their grip, Bucky pressing down harder on you as he did the same with the rag. You found it hard to breathe, and your body started to feel light. Sam shushed you, and that was the last thing you heard, Bucky’s blue eyes the last thing you saw before everything went dark.

  


The next time you drifted back into the land of semi-consciousness, you could feel that you were sprawled out on the backseat of a car. Your head lolled to the side as the car curved, and you could feel that you were being driven up a hill. You must have gone back to sleep for a few minutes because the next thing you felt was hands sliding underneath you, lifting you out of the car.

Your arms hung limp in the air, as did your head, and you frowned as you heard some muffled commotion. A tv was on, turned to the highest setting it seemed because even outside, you could hear that a football game was being watched. There were a few loud cheers that reached your ears, and you groaned.

A door was opened, the commotion quieting down, and a shift in the air told you that you were no longer outside. Even in your state, you realized that this wasn’t good, and your heart raced, frustration coursing through you because you couldn’t move.

“Is that her?” you heard an unfamiliar voice quietly ask, the deep baritone reaching your ears.

You felt, rather than heard, someone stomp towards you, and you groaned when they grabbed your ankle.

“What did I say, Bucky?”

You felt bile rise in your throat at the familiar voice, lips trembling as this confirmed everything that you already knew.

“That wasn’t me. She stepped in a hole when she was running away…”

Steve heaved a sigh, and whatever happened next was wordless because you felt Bucky start to walk. You slipped back under again just as his first foot stepped up onto some stairs. Darkness greeted you, mind conjuring up images that had you frowning.

Your mind was plagued with thoughts of Killian, but he eventually morphed to Steve. Falsely warm smiles and eyes that hid true intentions. His silhouette stood in every corner, laughing as you spun with a gun in hand, always just missing him. His laughter grew louder until it was all you could hear, and you shot up with a gasp.

The room that you were in was bathed in low light from the lamp on the other side. It was a modest size, but not tiny by any means. Your head still felt fuzzy, and you blinked a few times, attempting to clear it as you shook your head to the side. Your fingers dug into the sheets beneath you, and you realized that you were sitting on a bed.

Laughter grabbed your attention, the same laughter you heard in your sleep, and you realized that must have been what woke you up. You slid off of the bed, careful to do so without making any noise, and you hesitantly walked to the door. You tried the knob, but it seemed to be locked from the outside. You pressed your ear to the door and frowned at what you heard.

“Touchdown,” that same deep voice from before yelled, and you heard a thud before a small crash followed.

You heard several cries of protest, and with wide eyes, you realized that the house was full of men.

“Really, brother. Must you always be such a brute,” a smooth voice said.

You swallowed, taking a step back as your jaw clenched, hands curling into fists. How could they be enjoying something like a football party downstairs as if you hadn’t just been kidnapped and carried through the room…minutes… _hours_ before?

With a huff, you spun around, looking over the room. You still felt a bit out of it, but you were coherent enough to realize you needed to get the hell out of here. _Fast_. Your eyes fell onto the window on the other side of the bed, and you hurried towards it. You bit your lip as you confirmed that you were on the second floor. The room that you were in was on the backside of the house because your eyes landed on the lake, and you grimaced.

With difficulty, you opened the window and looked down. There was more than enough room to hit the ground without hitting the lake, and you looked around. With disappointment, you realized there was nothing for you to climb onto…until you looked up. You stared at the ledge of the roof for a while before making up your mind.

You pulled your head back inside and ran to the dresser across from the bed. Swiftly, but quietly, you pulled all of the drawers out, neatly stacking them on the bed. The dresser was much lighter and much easier to push in front of the door now. When you were done, you paused, listening for any indication that they heard you, but the television was blaring, and there was some yelling at the screen. You quickly slid the heavy drawers back inside.

Stepping onto the window sill was a struggle, and not just because of your bruised ankle. You held onto the house with one hand, the other reaching up to grip the ledge of the roof. Without hesitation, you swung and clasped your other hand onto the ledge too. Your upper body strength was severely lacking, but it was enough.

Somehow, you shuffled around the house, away from the back patio and living room. You could see a tree coming up on your left, the large trunk brushing against the house, limbs and branches sticking out over and against the side. You reached for one of the limbs with one hand just as you placed a foot on a limb beneath that one. You followed suit with the other hand and hissed in pain when your injured foot joined your other one.

With difficulty, and much slower than you would have liked, you climbed down, gently lowering yourself to the ground. Before you were nothing but trees. You could see the start of the driveway to your right, and the ominous lake called to you on your left.

Your best chance of escape was getting to the other side of the lake. If you could get to the other side without being noticed, you’d practically be home free. However, trying to swim across a lake that size with a drugged-out brain, injured ankle, and fatigue-ridden body was a suicide mission. You could easily drown.

With a grimace, you stepped into the thick trees before you. You needed to get back to the road, but eventually, when they caught onto your absence, the road and nearby areas is the first place they’d look. Part of you thought that there was no use in trying. Your body was weak, and you were currently limping through the forest. You were like an injured deer trying to outrun a pack of wolves as they slept.

Eventually…they’d wake up.

The night was cool, and you started to shiver. When you left, you’d only had on some jeans and a thin long-sleeved shirt. Your jacket had been next to you in the passenger seat. Had you known you were going to be kidnapped and then forced to escape your kidnappers, you would’ve put it on. You heard a howl far off in the distance, and with a start, you remembered that Steve wasn’t the only thing you had to hide from.

You didn’t know how long you had been walking, but when you reached a small clearing, moonlight shining down on you, you were forced to admit it to yourself. You were lost. It wasn’t like you had been walking in circles, so you weren’t concerned about accidentally making your way back to the house. In fact, you were proud to say that you’d made a lot of headway.

Just when you thought that your fatigue would get the best of you, spotted lights far off in the distance. They weren’t stars. You figured that the nearest neighbor had to be miles away, so it didn’t hit you how much you had walked until that moment. You let out a breath you hadn’t realized you were holding, leaning against a tree. You pushed yourself off of it just as you heard a noise from behind you.

It was so faint, and you blinked, thinking that you had imagined it. You took a step forward, and you heard it again. Feeling like you’d been punched in the stomach, you realized that it was shouts. Several of them reaching your ears, yelling a name that was all too familiar to you: yours.

Paying no mind to your injured ankle, you took off into a sprint. Your fatigue was long forgotten, adrenaline pumping through your veins. You could hear the shouts getting closer, and you realized that they had begun running too. One of them was faster than the rest, footfalls pounding against the earth as they fought to catch up to you.

You wouldn’t make it. The realist in you knew this, and you bent over as you ran, swiping up a thick bat sized limb. You heard him just behind you, and you spun, swinging it across his face. His head snapped to the side, and he fell to his knees, clutching his face. You looked up, realizing that the rest had almost caught up to you now, and took off again.

The broken branch was heavy in your arms, slowing you down, and it wasn’t long before you were caught up to again. Only this time when you swung, it was caught in an iron grip. Bucky snatched it from you with one hand while the other swung at you. You brought your foot up in between his legs just as his palm connected with your face.

You both went down, but as you went to crawl away, his hand clasped around your injured ankle. You yelped, clawing at the dirt as he pulled you back. With your other foot, you kicked him in the face, and he let go with a grunt.

You pushed yourself to your feet, but you were knocked down again, this figure much stronger, and you knew that it was the first man you’d hit. You struggled beneath him, screaming as he pinned your wrists at the small of your back. He yanked you up with ease, and you kicked behind you, but he easily avoided your assault.

He jerked you upright, and the other hand fisted into your hair as he made you look straight ahead. Bucky was struggling to stand, blue eyes cold as they gazed at you, and you returned the look, chest heaving. Another unfamiliar man was slowly making his way over with Sam, his green eyes twinkling with mischief, a sly smirk on his pink lips. The man behind you chuckled, the deep sound vibrating through his chest and into your back.

“I like this one,” he finally said, out of breath. “She’s a fighter…”

He didn’t seem bothered by it though. In fact, you’d say he enjoyed the chase.

“Like this one all you want, but this one isn’t yours.”

You tensed at the sound of a familiar voice coming from the shadows. His footsteps grew louder, and you saw the white of his shirt through the trees first. You moved in the harsh hold you found yourself in, and the man behind you shook you, casing you to flinch and hold still. You licked your lips, tasting blood, and you threw a glare towards Bucky.

Steve took his time getting to you, blond hair in disarray as he approached. The tight short-sleeved tee clung to him, and you narrowed your eyes at the healing wound on his right arm. He caught your gaze, and a smirk fell over his lips.

“You did get me good, sweetheart,” he said once close enough, impressed. “You could’ve killed me. I wasn’t expecting that.”

You didn’t respond, simply glaring at him as he stopped to stand before you. He looked down his nose at you before his gaze flickered to that of the man holding you.

“Let her go, Thor,” Steve told him.

“But she’ll-.”

“She won’t run away. You guys go back to the house. You might still be able to catch the end of that last game,” he interrupted.

Reluctantly, the man behind you, Thor, let you go, and the blood rushed back to your hands. You almost wanted to beg them to stay. You didn’t know what Steve would do to you now that you were alone…in the middle of nowhere…

He reached for your face, and you jerked away. He reached for it again, quicker this time, and gripped your chin harshly in his hand. He brushed his thumb over your bottom lip, wiping away the blood there, and he hummed.

You glanced down just before bringing your leg up, but seemingly anticipating that, Steve closed his own legs around your ankle. He twisted his body, causing you to fall on your side. He grabbed your ankle and pulled you back as he lowered to his knees. You pulled against his hold, but you felt him press his knees to the back of your legs, keeping you in place.

One arm grabbed the back of your shirt and yanked you up until you were on your own knees, back pressed against his front while one hand slid around you to lock your arms in place at your side. It all happened so quickly, and you struggled in his hold. His heart beat perfectly steady in his chest while yours threatened to jump out at any moment. He brushed his lips over your ear, and you closed your eyes.

“You’ve got two options...,” he started. “I can give you this…”

You opened your eyes just in time to see him bring a syringe before your eyes, and they widened in fear, heart skipping a beat.

“It’ll help you sleep,” he murmured. “…and we both know you need the rest after the day you’ve had.”

You jerked against him, but he tightened his hold, resting his chin on your shoulder.

“However…if I gave you this, I could do anything I wanted to you. I mean, I won’t because that’s not really my style, but all you have is my word on that,” he whispered, breath fanning over your skin.

You stared at the ground, tears spilling over now.

“Or…we could stand up, and we could walk back to the house like two civilized adults. Its entirely up to you…”

“Why are you doing this to me?” you finally asked him.

He tsk’d at that.

“Make a decision,” he demanded, voice dropping.

With trembling lips, you told him that you’d walk. He sharply inhaled, seemingly pleased with the answer as he put the syringe away. He loosened his grip, but your relief was short-lived as he quickly snapped handcuffs onto your wrists. He tightened them, and you winced, gasping when one hand dug into your arm, the other sliding over your breasts.

A new fear clung to your frame as he fondled you, hands sliding down your shirt, fingers dancing along the edge of your jeans.

“No,” you protested, trying, and failing, to lean away from him.

He slid his hands past the waistband and into your underwear, fingers grazing over you. The hand that was on your arm slid up to your throat, tightly wrapping around it to pull your head back. His lips pressed to the skin just below your jaw, and you trembled as he slowly slipped a finger inside of you.

“Steve, please-.”

“Say my name again,” he groaned, sliding a finger in and out of you before adding another.

“Stop,” you choked out, fighting to put as much space between you as possible.

He simply hummed, pushing his fingers into you past the knuckle, curling them inside of your now slick core. You gasped, and he turned your head to the side, pressing his lips against yours and forcing his tongue past your lips. He moaned into your mouth as he worked his hand in between your legs, the lewd sounds reaching your ears.

The palm of his hand kept brushing against your bundle of nerves, and you felt yourself clench around him. Steve chuckled into your mouth, a grin on his lips. You tried to move your head away, but he kept you in place, moving his mouth against yours again.

You shook in his arms as your walls fluttered around his fingers, and your vision went fuzzy, a choked moan being pulled out of you. Steve swallowed it down, and you didn’t even notice that he’d released your neck, eyes widening when you felt a pinch.

He held you still as he pulled the needle out of your neck, and your reaction was instantaneous. You collapsed in his arms, and he was more than happy to hold you, blue eyes boring into your own as you fought to keep them open. You watched as he brought his fingers up and wrapped his lips around them. He kissed you, and you tasted yourself. His lips brushed over yours as he spoke, reaching under you to undo the cuffs.

“You don’t know how badly I want to take you, right now…”

You struggled in his arms now that yours were free, but your movements were sluggish, and you felt weighed down. He held you in his arms as he stood, your arms swinging limply.

“…but someone might think that I was killing you.”

Your head fell back as sleep claimed you.


	5. Chapter 5

When you woke up, you felt like you’d slept for days. Knowing Steve, and having no clue as to what he injected you with, that might be true. You had dry mouth, that much you could tell, and your head still felt like it weighed a ton. Peeling your eyes open was rather difficult, but when you did, you realized that you were in a different room from the one before.

You pushed yourself up to lean on your forearms, looking around and listening. The house was quiet, a far cry from the last time you were here. You guessed that all of Steve’s guests were gone, and you didn’t know if you should be relieved or not. You didn’t know why you thought their presence would protect you when it wouldn’t. They had literally helped Steve recapture you after also watching your unconscious form be carried into his house to begin with. Maybe it was better that they were gone…

Now you could start formulating another escape without them around to catch you.

A stabbing pain struck you behind your eyes, and you squinted, bringing your fingers up to pinch the bridge of your nose. You cursed Steve to hell and back. Why had he given you the option of walking back with him when he was going to do what he wanted anyway? Did he get some sick pleasure out of it all?

Speaking of pleasure, you noted the soreness in between your thighs and wondered if Steve had done a lot more to you while you were out. He’d said that it wasn’t his style, but he couldn’t be trusted. You pressed your thighs together and winced, sitting up. Just as you considered what to do next, the bedroom door opened.

You sharply inhaled as Steve filled the doorway, heart rate picking up at the sight of him. Was it crazy that you were more terrified of him than you had been of your ex-husband? At least with Killian, you had grown to know what to expect. Steve had shattered every one of your expectations.

“You’re awake,” he said, stepping further into the room.

You didn’t know what to do, so you just stared at him as he approached. For your own sake, you needed to keep your eyes on him at all times. Escape was your top priority, and you had to think smart about it. He gripped your chin, turning your head to the side to gaze at your eyes, and hummed, clearly satisfied.

“You’ve been asleep for almost an entire day,” he informed you, grabbing your arm.

He helped you out of bed, and you let him. Your body was still fighting off whatever he gave you, and you stumbled. Steve was more than happy to catch you though, arm thrown around you, hand digging into your shoulder as he leaned you into his side.

He was patient as he helped you out of the room and down the stairs. The smell of food hit you, and you sniffed, stomach grumbling. Steve heard it and chuckled.

“I made breakfast,” he said, leading you into the kitchen.

A modest dining table was on the far side, and your eyes fell to the food laid upon it. You couldn’t trust him, having no idea as to what he wanted from you, so there was no telling what was in the food. However, you couldn’t afford to not eat. Steve turned his back after helping you sit down, and you glanced through the living room to look at the lake on the other side of the window. Getting across that lake was your best chance…

Too busy staring, you didn’t notice him approach until your hands were being handcuffed to the arms of the chair. You gasped, and he did the same with your ankles. Forgetting about your injury, you jerked your legs, only to cry out at the pain that traveled through your ankle. Steve hummed at that, sitting next to you.

“You gave Bucky and Sam hell. Thor too,” he added.

You watched as he picked up some scrambled eggs on a fork before bringing it to your lips. Realizing that you didn’t have much of a choice, you reluctantly parted them. The food tasted good enough, and he fed you again.

You licked your lips.

“You sound surprised,” you whispered, eyes meeting his.

A faint smirk was on his lips, and he chuckled.

“Not surprised…impressed. I like a fighter,” he said, reaching out to grab his glass of water.

He never broke his gaze from over the rim of the glass, and you blinked.

“…but I could tell that from the first moment I met you. So reluctant to accept a ride from a nice small-town cop-.”

“There isn’t anything nice about you,” you sneered.

Steve chuckled, nodding fondly.

“I suppose you’re right about that,” he agreed. “Nevertheless, the average person doesn’t pick up on that. Of course…you would…”

You glanced away as he fed you again.

“…tell me about him,” he eventually said.

You looked back to him with a frown. You knew who he was talking about, and your heart clenched. He pressed his elbows into the wood of the table, hands clasped together as he eyed you.

“Your ex-husband,” he elaborated.

You heaved a deep sigh, frustration coloring your tone.

“Why?”

“Because I want to know,” was his simple response.

You swallowed, a shiver climbing up your spine as you thought about the other blond man in your life.

“What…what do you want to know?” you wondered with a shrug.

He reached out to brush a finger down the side of your face, running it over your bottom lip.

“Tell me why you stayed,” he quietly demanded.

Figuring there was no harm in humoring him, you answered.

“I…was afraid. I had nowhere to go and…part of me…felt like I was being punished. Like I deserved it…”

“For what?”

“For leaving my family and friends behind,” you murmured. “For ignoring them for years…”

Steve nodded at that, pulling his hand away.

“I _am_ sorry about your family. I meant that when I told you that. They were good people,” he replied.

You blinked. Of course, he had known them. How could he not? It didn’t sit right with you that someone like him had interacted with your family…especially while you weren’t around. You wondered how he behaved towards them, if he ever made any of them feel as uncomfortable as he did with you.

“The funerals were lovely. Was he the reason you didn’t go?”

You suddenly found it hard to swallow, and tears kissed your eyes as he brought that up. He reached out to brush a rogue one away, and you jerked away from him. Missing the funerals of your family was definitely your biggest regret. Every time you thought about it, your hate for Killian grew.

You didn’t have to answer because Steve already knew.

“Bucky told me that you thought he was the one at your house every night. He said that you had feared he would find you,” he said, making you frown at the mention of the brunette.

You looked down when his hand found yours, brushing circles into the skin with his thumb.

“You don’t have to worry about that anymore,” he murmured, and your frown deepened.

You clenched your jaw, biting back what you wanted to say, and seeing the look on your face made Steve laugh. You looked up at him, gaze cold.

“I know what you must be thinking…that I won’t get away with this…”

He took another bite, leaning back in his chair as he eyed you smugly.

“…but I will. Hell, I’ve gotten away with worse,” he chuckled.

Your brow twitched, and you narrowed your eyes at him, recalling something that Wanda had said.

“ _Peggy?_ ”

You watched the way his face fell, and you continued.

“Wanda said she’d just…left right after the breakup. I never thought that seemed her style…”

Your tone was accusatory, and apparently with good reason. Steve slowly exhaled, straightening up as he rubbed his hand over his chin, elbow pressed into the table as his eyes gazed at something you couldn’t see.

“Peggy…was an accident,” he admitted, and genuine remorse registered on his features.

Remorseful or not, your eyes still widened as he confirmed what you had initially suspected but brushed off, convinced that your paranoia was getting the best of you. Now, you knew the truth. You weren’t just sitting with a kidnapper, but you were sitting with a murderer too.

“You see, I started having my fun before I came here. I’d help out unsuspecting girls in need. Sometimes they were homeless…sometimes they just needed a ride home…to the store…”

Horror filled you as he spoke, and you started to realize that you weren’t dealing with an amateur.

“They’d get in, and I’d offer them a bottle of water I kept inside.”

Of course, they would. Steve Rogers looked like the poster boy for good Samaritans everywhere. Those soft blue eyes could convince anyone. Said eyes met yours, serious.

“They’d always accept. Either out of genuine thirst or just to avoid being rude, I don’t know. I didn’t care. They’d be knocked out within minutes…”

You felt like you were going to be sick.

“…when I was done, I’d park at wherever they had wanted me to take them to. They’d eventually arouse, and I’d convince them that they had nodded off. None of them ever suspected, and if they did, what could they say?”

He rose an eyebrow.

“The friendly neighborhood cop, Officer Rogers, drugged and raped me?”

He scoffed, and you blinked away tears.

“…and Peggy?” you forced out.

Steve sighed.

“I got tired of the coldness and casualness of it all,” he said with a shrug. “I realized that I wasn’t getting any younger, and Peggy… She was so sweet.”

He sadly shook his head.

“Like every other woman in this town, she was itching at the chance to have me. But unlike the rest, she wasn’t bold about it. She was coy, and I liked that. It wasn’t long before I had her in the palm of my hands,” he chuckled at that. “Literally.”

Disgust churned in your stomach.

“She was everything I thought she’d be. Except…she wasn’t.”

When he looked at you again, his eyes were hard, face taut with tension as he recalled whatever memory you hadn’t been privy to.

“Peggy had plans,” he dragged out, voice low as he took another sip. “She wanted to achieve all of these great things…see the world…leave me.”

He huffed.

“We fought. Things got…physical, and the next thing I know, my hands are around her neck.”

You swallowed, tears spilling over now.

“Jesus,” he quietly scoffed. “I didn’t even realize until I let her go and she just…dropped.”

More tears fell, and he finally took notice. He reached over to wipe them, and you flinched.

“That’s right,” he hummed. “You grew up with her.”

He moved to feed you some more, but you shook your head, appetite lost. He let the fork drop before leaning back in his seat. He turned to look though the living room, eyes roaming over the lake through the window.

“She’s in that lake, you know. I think about her every time I look out onto it,” he quietly said, more to himself than you.

You sniffed, throat tight and chest burning. Fear gripped you, and you wondered if that was going to be your fate. Steve suddenly moved his chair closer to you, and you cried harder. He shushed you, reaching for you to wipe your face with his thumbs.

“That won’t be you. I promise,” he said as if reading your mind, hands resting on the sides of your face.

You shook your head.

“Why me?” you quietly asked him, no longer able to keep it in.

You had to know.

“I could see how broken you were,” he hummed, eyes roaming over your face. “…and I thought that I could fix you. That maybe we could fix each other, hmm? I give you the safety and security and love you’ve been craving for years, and you give me what I want.”

You frantically blinked, eyes searching his face.

“I could see that you wanted me too. Deep down, anyway. After all, I was a good guy. I’m sure Wanda told you something like that, didn’t she? That I would be good for you…and you had thought about it, considered it. I could see it in your eyes that night,” he continued. “Wondering what it would be like to be with a genuinely good guy…”

“I wasn’t ready,” you mumbled.

He took a deep breath.

“I know, but unfortunately for you… I don’t have much patience. At least not when it comes to something I know I want.”

“What…what do you want from me?” you finally wondered.

He let out a breath, brushing his thumb over your bottom lip as he stood, towering over you.

“I want you to look at me with complete adoration as I come inside of you. I want to come inside of you every night, calling you wife while I fill you with my children. I want to make love to you when you’re glowing and round with my child, but…right now…”

He reached for your plate again, bringing some more eggs to your lips.

“I want you to finish your food.”

Too stunned by his admission, you allowed him to feed you, fear gripping your heart at what would happen if you didn’t escape.

  


When you weren’t locked away in the room, and when you weren’t handcuffed at the table, Steve pretty much allowed you free reign. He was at your side at all times, of course, closely hovering. You figured it was best to seem cooperative. Of course, you didn’t think Steve was gullible enough to believe that you had accepted your situation. You both knew that you were just biding your time. It was only a matter of thinking of a way to escape before he thought of a way to stop you before you even tried.

You feared what he would do to keep you here…feared what he would do if he caught you trying to leave. You thought of Peggy, of how she had simply brought up the idea of leaving and had died for it. Steve’s desires weighed on your mind, and you knew that you only had so much time before he started to go through with them.

That second morning, you had woken up to the feel of a hard chest pressed against your back, a thick arm curling over your waist. It had taken you a moment to understand that the second room you had woken up in was his room. You had jerked in his grip, attempting to get away from him, but your movements had aroused him…in more ways than one.

His hold tightened, pulling you closer, and he groaned as sleep began to leave him. You could feel him poking against you, hard and hot, and you had panicked. You fought to get away from him, and he swiftly pushed you to lie on your back, settling in between your legs. Your hands, having attempted to push him away, were pinned between your bodies as he kissed you.

You gasped against his mouth, and his tongue slipped past your lips, tasting the inside of your mouth. His arms were pressed down on either side of you, caging you in, and you felt like you were suffocating. Steve paid no mind to your aversion, moaning against your trembling lips. One of his hands reached down to wrap around your wrists, dragging them above you until they were pinned just below the headboard.

His other hand slid down your side, kneading your skin as it descended. He ground himself against you, his hardened member poking at you through his shorts. You only had on a nightgown that he’d left outside of the shower the night before. You had briefly wondered if it belonged to Peggy. This very thing was a pressing concern of yours when you noticed the absence of underwear.

His free hand moved to make a home in between your legs, fingers brushing against and poking at you. You bit his tongue, hard, and you tasted blood. He ripped his face away from you with a hiss, and your satisfaction was short lived when he shoved two fingers inside of you to the hilt.

Your chest arched, a choked sound escaping your lips as he roughly fingered you. You turned your head away when he leaned back down, and his lips met your cheek.

“Do that again,” he whispered, lips moving against your skin. “…and I’ll make you pay for it.”

You squeezed your eyes shut as you felt his fingers glide within you more easily now. He hummed, mouth trailing down to your neck, sucking on the skin. You squirmed beneath him, trying to fight off the pleasure that was being forced on you. Your legs kicked around him, and he widened his, pushing his knees underneath your thighs to restrict your movement.

You pushed your wrists against his hands as he added a third finger, stretching you out. A moan threatened to bubble out of your throat, but you swallowed it down, whimpering instead. Steve wasn’t pleased with that. He continued to thrust his fingers in and out of you, thumb coming up to brush against your swollen bud, and you whimpered again.

His hands tightened around your wrists as he sped up, almost painfully so, and he grinded against you. His lips attached themselves to your neck, pulling the skin in between his teeth, laving his tongue over you. He curled his fingers, and a broken moan finally slipped from your lips. He did it again and was met with the same result.

You turned your face as much into the pillow as you possible could, but Steve’s lips sought out your own, covering them in another kiss. He swallowed your moans, groaning into your mouth as your hips bucked against his hand. The hand that was holding your wrists down moved to intertwine with one of yours. You quickly pushed your free hand against his stomach, and when that didn’t work, you wrapped your hand around his wrist.

Your efforts were useless, Steve effortlessly working his fingers into you again and again.

“Stop,” you finally begged against his lips.

“Come for me, and I will,” he roughly replied.

He flicked his thumb over your bundle of nerves again, and you fell apart beneath him. He pulled back ever so slightly, your moans permeating through the air as he looked down at you. A few of his blond strands tickled your own forehead, and his nose kept brushing against yours as he worked you through your climax.

He looked down, eyes focused on the way you clenched around his fingers, hand a mess. Your chest heaved, breath shaky as he tightened his hold on your hand. You’d just woken up, but you felt tired all over again. He finally pulled his fingers out of you, bringing them to his lips and humming.

“Good girl,” he murmured as he kissed the corner of your mouth.

He rolled off of you, and you caught sight of the large tent in his shorts. You looked away, hurriedly pulling your nightgown back down, disgust coursing through you. You didn’t move as he strode into the bathroom and turned the shower on. You only did so when low moans reached you minutes later, and you moved to exit the room, but it was locked. You noticed what looked like a key pad on the wall next to the light switch. You hadn’t noticed it the day before.

Realizing that you’d have to sit here and listen to him get himself off, you sat back down, covering your ears. You were still in that position when he finally exited, a towel loosely hanging on his lips. You watched as he walked into the closet and came back out with clothes that were clearly meant for you. Again, you wondered if these belonged to Peggy. He ushered you into the bathroom before you could give it any more thought.

Your time in the bathroom was quick. Your quick search of the cabinets turned up nothing useful for you. No type of medication or sedatives or anything. You would have loved nothing more to spend all day in the bathroom, but you didn’t want to give Steve the opportunity to check on you and see you naked. The clothes fit perfectly, and it was then that you decided they weren’t Peggy’s.

The idea that Steve found clothes that were perfectly in your size made your stomach churn.

He was waiting for you when you got out, and he reached for you as soon as you were near. One hand went to the back of your neck, holding you beside him while the other went to what you thought was the keypad. You watched in awe as he pressed his thumb against it, and the pad flashed green just before he reached to open the door.

“Buck and Sam are coming by later,” he told as he guided you down the stairs. “I don’t think I need to remind you not to do anything stupid, do I?”

You shook your head.

“Anyway, just in case…”

He stopped before the door of the basement. Apprehension filled you as he opened it and guided you in, his chest brushing your back as you walked. You walked down some stairs, stopping at another door. This one was sturdier and had a bar that fell across it. You watched as Steve lifted the bar and pushed you in.

You stumbled, tripping over your feet before straightening yourself. You could feel Steve behind you as you looked around, and your heart dropped. It was a room, furnished with a single bed, a toilet, and a sink. You swallowed in fear, taking a step back, recoiling when you bumped into him.

Steve wrapped his arm around you, lips at your ear.

“I don’t want to have to put you in here, but I will if you force me to. Is that understood?”

You gave him a shaky nod. His hand closed around your throat, and you gasped, reaching up to grab his arm as he lifted you, your toes grazing the floor.

“I want to hear you say it,” he whispered.

“I understand,” you shakily replied, and satisfied, he let you go.

He spun you around, one hand on your jaw as he tilted your head, lips brushing your cheek and then your ear.

“Be good for me…and I’ll be good to you,” he quietly told you.

He didn’t wait for a response before guiding you up the stairs. You reached the hallway again just as a knock sounded on the front door. He pulled you along, keeping you at his side as he went to answer it.

Sam and Bucky had grins on their faces and greetings on their lips when Steve opened the door. However, Bucky’s face fell when his eyes met yours. You took in the red marks on the side of his face, and you couldn’t keep the smug expression off of yours even if you tried. He let them in, hand sliding around your waist as he closed the door.

You flinched, and he tightened his arm around you. Bucky looked over his shoulder at you, lips curled into a cruel smirk.

“Like the new look?” he wondered, gesturing to his face.

You simply looked at him, and both Sam and Steve chuckled.

“Maybe if you weren’t slacking…” Sam’s words trailed off as they entered the kitchen, but Steve pushed you towards the living room.

He pressed his lips to your forehead before pushing you down onto the couch. You swallowed, watching as he joined Sam and Bucky in the kitchen. Sam’s eyes were on you, and he turned to Steve.

“She’s quiet,” you heard him say.

“No. She’s not quiet,” Steve replied, calculating eyes meeting yours before he ran them over you.

He smirked.

“She’s smart,” he argued.

He looked away, and so did you, eyes looking through the backdoor to roam over the lake. If only you could get to the lake. When the time was right…

  


Sam and Bucky didn’t stay for long. Steve had waved them goodbye with one arm securely around your waist. You watched them get back into the car, the police cruiser, and your stomach churned, still in disbelief that the supposed good guys were nothing but scum.

You wanted to know how they could be okay with what Steve was doing. You wanted to know how they justified it, and unable to keep it in, you asked him. He didn’t respond right away, instead heaving a sigh as he pressed one hand into the wall beside your head, caging you in.

“After Peggy, I went back to my…casual encounters…”

You frowned at how he worded it, and he chuckled at that.

“…not often like I did before, but just enough to satisfy me… They caught me one day…”

He smiled as if he were thinking back on a fond memory, and you were almost sorry you’d asked.

“They wanted in on it too.”

Your eyes widened as they met his gaze, and your lips parted as you registered what he was saying. He reached up to brush his thumb over your trembling lips, his own parting.

“Eventually Thor got roped in too. His brother Loki prefers to sit out on the festivities, but he doesn’t mind. I don’t think you’ve been properly introduced to them,” he added. “Loki is a lawyer, and Thor is a cop in the next county over. They come over from time to time. Usually for a game.”

Now you were positive that you were going to be sick, and Steve continued.

“Thor wasn’t exactly the most inconspicuous about it when he’s here…and the boss caught on one day. We’re the best cops in town though. We keep these people safe and crime is practically nonexistent, so… So long as we’re discreet, he looks the other way,” he told you.

You turned away from him, tears in your eyes. He pressed his lips to your cheek, inhaling.

“Do you see, now? You have no one to run to. No one will help you,” he whispered darkly, hand landing on your shoulder, digging in, the other trailing to cup your ass. “We run this town…”

He pressed a leg in between yours, and you pushed against him, but he was faster. He grabbed your wrists, slamming them against the wall as he forced his mouth on yours. You kicked at his legs, but it was hard to do when one of his separated yours.

He pulled you away from the wall, lips never parting from yours as he turned and forced you back. You stumbled and tripped over your feet, trying to put as much distance between you two as possible. When that didn’t work, you brought your knee up, and Steve pulled back with a grunt.

Slipping out of his arms, you ran towards the backdoor, but his hands in your hair stopped you. You screamed as your scalp protested his tight hold, and he yanked you back into his chest, one hand closing around your throat. His chest heaved against your back, harsh breaths in your ear.

“Remember what I said,” he whispered, deep voice threatening. “Be good for me…and I’ll be good to you…”

You hadn’t realized you were crying until he walked you forward towards the couch. Your face crumbled as he pushed you down, one hand sliding up the thin dress he’d given you to wear. His hand grazed your bare slit, and you cried harder.

As awful as Killian had been, he’d never forced himself on you. It was crazy to think that in all the years you’d experienced violence at his hand, none of it had ever been sexual. That was a line that he had never crossed.

Steve flipped you, and you immediately fought against him as he ripped at your dress. He caught your wrists, holding them away as he dipped down to wrap his lips around one breast, bud hardened from the cool air in the house. He moved his head to give the other the same attention, and you cried out, pushing against him.

He suddenly jerked your wrist, and you cried out, pain traveling down your arm. He looked up at you, eyes cold as both desire and anger warred within them.

“I _will_ break both of them,” he harshly said, making you freeze.

You couldn’t swim across the lake with a broken wrist, let alone two. He let you go, hands hovering over your own for a while to make sure you would behave. Pleased, he swiftly undressed, and you looked away from him, eyes on the ceiling. He tsk’d, reaching for your chin to turn your head.

“Eyes on me,” he ordered.

Too afraid to defy him, you watched as he grabbed your ankles, spreading and lifting your legs as he moved closer. He was hard and throbbing, bigger than Killian was, and you shook beneath him. There was no warning, no teasing… Steve slid into you with one thrust.

Having been wholly unprepared, you yelped in pain, head falling back on the arm of the couch. He rested your legs on his shoulders, leaning over you as he forced your knees to your shoulders. All of your movement was restricted, and the only thing you could do was press your hands into his waist. A few tears escaped your eyes, and Steve kissed them away.

His breath was shaky, blond hair hanging into his forehead as he savored the feel of you wrapped around him. He rested his forearms on the arm of the couch, caging you in, and you felt incredibly hot being surrounded by him. His lips brushed the corner of your mouth before moving them down to your jaw, nipping at the skin there.

He slowly pulled his hips back until nothing but the tip of him remained inside of you. He was slow to thrust too, and you squirmed, nails digging into his waist. The position you were in didn’t allow for you to do anything other than lay there and take it. Steve gradually began to pick up his pace, and the couch trembled from the force of his thrusts.

You wanted to close your eyes so badly, but you were afraid of what he’d do if you did. His lips never stayed in one place, kissing every part of your face that they could. Occasionally, his hand would brush over your cheek or shoulder. Sometimes he’d reach down and flick his fingers over you. Unable to do anything, you had no choice but to accept the pleasure he was forcing on you.

His skin slapped against yours in the quiet house, and you whimpered as he rested his forehead against yours, blue eyes boring into your own. As quiet as you tried to be, he could see the pleasure on your face, and the corner of his lips curved upwards. He kissed you, slow and soft, and you hated it. His lips didn’t part from yours as his thrusts grew erratic and choppy.

Too many things were happening at once, it was too intense for you, and you turned your head. Steve snarled at that and fisted his hand in your hair, yanking your head towards him again. He kissed you harder this time, slamming into you as he did so. Tears streamed down your face as you felt your stomach tightening, toes curling while you clenched around him.

“That’s it,” he murmured into your mouth. “Come for me…”

You pressed your nails harder into his skin, trying to fight it off, but it was no use. Steve didn’t relent in his movements, and soon, you were coming around him. Your climax struck you like a punch, stomach aching as it tightened, core fluttering around Steve’s unyielding cock. You slapped your hands against him as he fucked you through it, tears in your eyes again.

“Be good for me,” he reminded you, and you shook your head.

You reached in between you to press your hands to his stomach, turning your head away. Steve’s breathing was harsh above you, chest heaving as he thrust into your soaking core.

“Steve,” you begged, pushing against him.

“You’ve got another in you, I know you do.”

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before he threw you head first into another, and your mind spun as a choked moan slipped out of your mouth. You couldn’t swallow it down even if you tried, and Steve groaned. One of your hands was on his chest, the other on his shoulder, but he wouldn’t budge. Your legs trembled, and you involuntarily closed them as you tried to stem the oversensitivity, inadvertently locking them around his neck.

“Steve... Steve, please,” you begged, out of breath.

His lips found yours again, and he growled into your mouth.

“One more,” he whispered. “Give me one more.”

You tried to duck your head, but he followed, lips brushing the corner of your mouth.

“Give me one more…”

Stars appeared behind your eyes as you came for a third time, choking his cock. Steve let out a low moan as you gripped him, the sound drawing out into a groan. You could feel the mess you were making, but Steve didn’t mind as he pressed kisses to your cheek, your jaw, your neck…

“Look how good you are for me. Such a good girl for me,” he mumbled, spilling into you.

You shuddered at the feel, and Steve fucked his cum into you, hissing. He sat up to move your legs off of him, and relief filled you as they fell limply around him. He pressed his chest against yours again, hands cupped underneath your thighs as he lazily moved within you.

“See how good I can make you feel…” he said, lips grazing yours. “…when you’re good for me.”


	6. Chapter 6

Once Steve had had a taste of you, there was hardly a moment where his hands weren’t pawing at you…where his form wasn’t hovering over your own…where his harsh breathing didn’t fill your ears. You hated to admit that if he wasn’t who he was, you would have thoroughly enjoyed having sex with Steve. Even with the fight you put up, he always managed to throw you head first into an earth-shattering orgasm.

Like right now.

What you thought would be a calming shower, the one moment you got alone away from Steve’s oppressing desire, had turned into another rough entanglement of limbs. Your breasts pressed against the cool tile of the shower stall as Steve’s hand clenched around the back of your neck. One of your hands slid down the tile while the other reached back to desperately try and push him away.

His other hand dug into your hip as he thrust into you, and you sank your teeth into your bottom lip, a whimper bubbling within your chest. He leaned in to press his face into the crook of your neck, lips tasting your skin. He loved to do that, you noticed. Taste your skin. In any way he could. He groaned against your skin, and a low whine finally escaped you as you came around him, the feeling of warmth flooding you not far behind.

Relief filled you when his thrusts slowed. Steve had slipped into the shower with you over 20 minutes ago, and your body had started to ache. Your body sagged, and had Steve not wrapped his arm around you, you probably would have collapsed. He reached over to turn the water off before helping you out of the shower.

The weeks you’d spent in Steve’s hold, you found that he had been truthful. So long as you obeyed him, you didn’t have to deal with anything more than his insatiable appetite. However, you could only put up with that for so long. You knew what his plan was, and you knew that getting you pregnant was the best way to keep you from running. Fortunately for you, ever since your miscarriage, you’d been a fan of the Depo shot for almost a year now. However, unfortunately for you, your 3 months was almost up. It was almost time for you to get another shot, and if you didn’t make it out of here before that time, then you were screwed.

When you got downstairs, you found yourself handcuffed to the chair as Steve made breakfast like he did every morning. You never protested when he brought out the handcuffs, and you hoped that soon he would trust you enough to not use them anymore. He fed you, engaging in his favorite pastime of questioning you about your past, desperate to learn everything he could about you.

Sometimes you were tempted to ask about him too. But you were scared. Scared of what he might tell you. You wondered if he was always this way or was this something he picked up in college or maybe even after. Sometimes you wondered about what would happen should you become pregnant. You wondered if Steve were sick, like something that could be passed down, and the thought of having a child just like him made you want to be sick.

The day that everything changed was the day that Sam and Thor had come by. You and Steve had been on the couch, as comfortable as you could possibly be sitting next to your captor and rapist. The TV was blaring, but after feeling the heat of Steve’s gaze off and on, you got the feeling that he wasn’t really watching it.

You were proven right when his arm tightened around you, and his lips found your neck. Involuntarily, you had flinched, shrinking in on yourself, and Steve pulled you until you were sitting crossways on his lap. His lips found yours, covering them in a hungry kiss, and you pressed your hand to his chest to ground yourself.

His free hand found its way between your legs, poking and prodding at you until you felt yourself grow wet. His tongue explored the inside of your mouth just as his fingers eased themselves inside of you to do the same. You clenched his shirt into your fist, fire spreading throughout your body as he stroked you.

His mouth traveled to your neck, and the hand on your waist moved to pushed against your chest. Knowing what he wanted, you fell back, and Steve wasted no time in settling himself between your legs on his knees. He continued to pull and push his fingers into you as he reached for his belt. You wrapped a hand around his wrist as you squeezed your eyes shut.

Steve chuckled at your efforts.

You always tried to block out the pleasure he forced on you, but in the end, you always found yourself coming around him one way or another. His cock, his fingers, his tongue… It didn’t matter. He pulled pleasure from you as easy as breathing. You tried to block out the deafening sound of his zipper, but you couldn’t block out the feel of him rubbing his tip against your wet folds as soon as he pulled his fingers from you.

He slid into you slowly, groaning as he did so, and you hissed, wondering if you’d ever get used to the way he stretched you. When he was balls deep, he held himself there, just basking in the feel of you wrapped around him. You took slow deep breaths, always feeling so full with him inside of you.

Eventually, Steve pulled back until only the tip of him remained before slamming back into you. You cried out, hands clasping around his arms as he repeated the action. His jeans rubbed against you as he grinded into you, and you gasped at the feel of the rough material on your sensitive flesh. Your legs trembled around him, and his mouth found yours again just as there was a knock on the door.

You both froze, your eyes wide with confusion and even a little bit of fear while Steve’s were narrowed in irritation. It seemed that he planned to ignore them, thrusting into you again and moving to lower his head, but he was once again interrupted by a knock. This time a voice followed.

“Steve, its Sam,” the voice hollered through the door.

“…and Thor!”

You tensed at the sound of that deep voice traveling through the door, the thought of the burly blond man making goosebumps erupt over your flesh. Steve heaved a sigh before loudly telling them that the door was opened. Your wide eyes found his for several reasons. The first being that you hadn’t known the door was open, and you supposed that was purposefully done because if you had, you would have surely tried to make a run for it.

The second reason for your incredulous gaze was that Steve made no move to get off of you and make both of you presentable. The faint smirk on his pink lips as the door began to open told you everything you needed to know. Panic and embarrassment flooded you, and you moved to push against him, but he was already slamming into you.

A pained whimper slipped past your lips just as the two cops made their way inside. The living room was visible from the entrance hallway, and you heard them both freeze at the sight they were met with. Most of you was hidden beneath Steve’s form, but your legs were visible on either side of him. You heard a low whistle, and something in you told you that it was the other blond.

“Steve, stop-.”

“Thor wants to get his hands on you. I know he does, but you aren’t his for the taking,” he murmured against your lips. “I figured that giving him a show should keep him satisfied.”

You squirmed beneath him, uncomfortable with the presence of the other men. Steve’s movements didn’t waver, and you couldn’t hold back the choked moans that crawled from your mouth as he sped up his pace, rutting into you so forcefully that the couch trembled.

“Show them how good you are for me,” he whispered just as something snapped within you.

You clenched around him, milking him as he came inside of you. His teeth nipped at you as his hips slowed in their movements, chest heaving with choppy breaths. Your legs were still shaking when he pulled out of you, hovering over you as he peppered kisses across your face.

“Steve, this is important,” you heard Sam say.

His voice was strained with something you couldn’t place, and you didn’t bother to try as you felt fatigue creep over you from Steve’s assault. Steve paused at that.

“How important?” he asked, looking over his shoulder.

A wordless gesture must have been exchanged, and you had a feeling it was about you because Steve’s eyes lingered on you when he turned back around. With a disgruntled sigh, he pulled your dress back down before tucking himself back into his pants. Your eyes lazily roamed to connect with those of Thor’s as he stood near, blue eyes twinkling with amusement.

You closed yours, embarrassment and rage filling you at Steve’s antics. You could feel your body relaxing, sleep just around the corner as your lashes fluttered. You heard Steve’s footsteps grow fainter, and it suddenly occurred to you that they were taking the conversation just outside the front door.

“You’re going to leave her?” you heard Sam ask him.

“She’s going to be asleep in seconds. Like clockwork,” he smugly said, and your anger grew.

He was right though. You could feel the hands of sleep reaching for you just as the door opened. When it closed, there was a nagging thought poking at your brain. It took you a few seconds for it to click: you were alone. Your eyes flew open, fatigue retreating as adrenaline took its place.

You sat up, frantically looking around as your mind raced. There were three of them here right now. Trying to run now would only get you caught and possibly thrown in the basement. You reluctantly accepted this as your eyes moved to the lake. You had to escape when no one else was here.

However, when it was just you and Steve, he was with you all the time. At the table, your hands and legs were cuffed. The best option would be to attempt something while he slept, but… You thought about that thumb pad on the wall. That was your biggest obstacle, and there was no way to bypass that.

Your shoulders suddenly relaxed as your eyes slowly moved to the kitchen. You looked at the front door again, Steve’s voice growing louder. He appeared to be angered by something, and before you could talk yourself out of it, you sprinted into the kitchen, sure to duck as you moved about to stay out of the window’s view. You grabbed the largest and sharpest knife you could find before running upstairs, taking them two at a time.

Pushing your way into the bedroom you shared, you moved to your side of the bed and slipped the knife underneath the mattress, resting it between that and the box spring. Quickly, before Steve returned, you sprinted back downstairs. You sat on the couch, prepared to feign sleep, when something on the tv caught your attention.

In disbelief at what you were seeing, you shakily grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.

“Y/N Y/L/N’s vehicle was found not even 5 miles outside of the city limits,” the reporter said, standing before a stretch of trees that were awfully familiar. “Many said that no one thought anything unusual about her sudden disappearance as the young woman had been famously known for skipping town before.”

Something unidentifiable stirred in your chest at seeing your face plastered on the screen. It was a closeup from one of your wedding photos, and you frowned. You had tossed all of them out. The only way they could even get that was-.

All of your thoughts came to a halt at the reporter’s next words.

“Aldrich Killian, Ms. Y/L/N’s ex-husband, who came to town to check on the wellbeing of his ex-wife was the one who made the startling discovery.”

You didn’t hear her next words as the tv was suddenly cut off. Startled, you looked up at Steve, lips parted in shock. So stunned, you hadn’t even noticed him come in, nor did you feel him snatching the remote from your hand.

Your ex-husband was here? He’d found you? You couldn’t even focus on the fact that you were now considered missing, people out there actively looking for you. You should have been ecstatic about that, hopeful, but it was shadowed by fear.

Killian was here.

Steve grabbed your hands as he sat down beside you, and he turned you to face him. You hadn’t noticed that you were crying until Steve wiped your face, his own taught with anger.

“Hey… Look at me…,” he softly ordered.

You did.

“I won’t let him find you,” he told you. “Understand?”

You slowly nodded, still stunned. He kissed your trembling lips, and you didn’t return it. He shook you, and you blinked, eyes wide. His hands rested on the sides of your face as his eyes searched yours, thumb brushing away a stray tear.

“I won’t let him take you away from me,” he murmured just before his lips met yours again.

He began to push you back, and still frozen in shock, you didn’t fight him. Your eyes remained on the ceiling the entire time he was inside of you.

  


For the next few days, the knife underneath the mattress seemed to burn a hole through it and into your skin. You didn’t attempt that first night. Something in you told you that Steve was probably expecting something of you. Maybe he thought that knowing people were searching for you would reignite a fire within you or something. Or maybe he thought that the knowledge of your ex-husband being so near would make you fearful enough to run as far away as possible.

Either way, you were as obedient as ever. You could feel Steve’s eyes on you sometimes, but eventually, the weight of his gaze lessened. Each night, while Steve snored softly behind you, you reached over to run your fingers underneath the mattress, making sure it was still there. Each night, it was. You did the same tonight, and mind made up, you pulled it from underneath the mattress.

Steve’s arm was lazily thrown over your waist, but when you went to move, it tightened. Licking your lips, you gently shook his arm, and he grumbled.

“I have to use the bathroom,” you quietly told him.

With a soft sigh, he rolled over onto his back. This wasn’t unusual for you. After all, Steve liked to make sure that you ate healthy, and that included almost 10 glasses of water a day. So a midnight trip to the bathroom was a routine now.

You kept the knife clutched to your chest as you moved out of bed. When you closed the bathroom door behind you, you pressed your back to it, taking a deep breath. For good measure, you did use the bathroom. You had placed the butcher knife on the counter as you washed your hands, staring at it with your teeth sunk into your bottom lip.

You turned the light off before you exited the bathroom, and you were relieved to see Steve’s form in the same place from when you left. Your heart was pounding in your chest as you tightened your grip on the handle. You had never considered yourself a particularly squeamish person, but you knew this was going to get bloody, and your stomach churned at the thought.

Quietly, you ran your fingers down Steve’s arm in a soothing manner, trailing them over his hand until his fingers flexed. You smoothed your hand over his, satisfied when his was laid flat on the bed. You placed the knife on the sheets and leaned over to turn on the lamp.

Light snores left him, and you picked up the knife as quietly as possible. You blinked back the tears that threatened to fall, telling yourself that your escape was all that mattered. You bit your lip, pushing back your disgust. With one swoop, you brought the knife down, severing Steve’s thumb.

The noise that left him was inhuman, and you stumbled back as he reached for you, his thumb in your hand. He was a strong man, but not tough enough to ignore the pain of having a finger chopped off. When he was close enough, you swiped the knife across his chest, practically jumping out of the way before he crashed into the wall.

As much as you would have loved to kill him, a missing thumb and a shallow cut to the chest wasn’t going to stop him from snapping your neck. So before he had the chance to get ahold of you, you sprinted to the door and pressed the severed appendage to the pad. It flashed green, and you yanked the door open. You slammed it shut behind you and winced as Steve’s screams reached your ears. Disgusted, you dropped it to the floor. The knife too.

Wasting no time, you bounded down the stairs, taking them two at a time, before throwing the backdoor open. You could hear Steve’s yells as you stumbled down the dirt and gravel, feet carrying you into the water. It was colder than you expected, and you hissed as you kicked your feet and arms through the icy water.

You could still hear him yelling for you, and it suddenly occurred to you that he didn’t think you had jumped into the water. You supposed that you couldn’t blame him. The lake was huge, after all. It had taken you nearly 20 minutes to swim across it, and that was with an ankle that was pretty much healed.

You pulled yourself onto the dirt of the other side. You didn’t pause to catch your breath, immediately running into the trees. You were sure that Steve would be on the road looking for you, but you couldn’t pass up the opportunity of hitching a ride with a possible savior. You noted that you could potentially be walking into an equally dangerous situation.

After all, you were a lone young woman wandering the night in a short thin night gown that left little to the imagination. You had finally neared the road, and you waded through the trees as you waited for the sound of a car to drive by.

The first car that drove by looked familiar to you, and you were glad that you had the sense to fall to your stomach. The way it slowed down to a crawl told you exactly who it was, and your body shook from more than just the cool air. Eventually, he drove down the road, and you waited a few moments before standing.

You continued walking, wincing as your bare feet pressed onto sticks and rocks. You realized that you were too far out to walk back into town this late at night. Surely, you’d pass out from exhaustion, fate left in the hands of the wild animals out here. That is, if they didn’t get to you _before_ you passed out.

Miraculously, you heard another car coming a while later. It seemed that they were coming from the direction of the interstate that was miles and miles past Steve’s house. Without thinking, you jumped into the road, waving your arms like a mad woman.

Even though the driver was definitely speeding, you saw them practically slam on breaks, swerving their car into the other lane to keep from hitting you. They stalled the vehicle beside you, and you bent down as they rolled the passenger window down.

The man driving was fair with dark brown hair. His facial hair was tastefully done, cut in a style that suited him. You found it odd that he was wearing shades at night, but the thought was pushed back when he removed them. His brown eyes were warm as they looked over you in concern.

“Uh...lady… Jumping in front of cars like that can get you killed, you know.”

He seemed to be attempting a joke, but considering the night, and weeks, you’d had, you were in no mood to laugh. He finally seemed to notice the blood that covered you, and his eyes widened. You spoke before he could.

“I-I need a ride back to town. Please,” you begged.

Shaking himself from his shock, he reached over and opened the door. You were worried about sitting your soaked frame on his expensive car seat, but he didn’t seem to mind as he reached to turn the heat on. Your shivering form welcomed it.

“I’ll take you to the station-.”

“No, please don’t!”

He jumped at your loud refusal, and you worked to calm yourself. You wrung your hands in your lap, swallowing.

“Please, just take me to my friend’s house,” you whispered.

You couldn’t go to the police nor home. Your best bet was to go straight to Wanda until you could figure everything out. She knew about Killian and would hide you from him, and there, you could hide from Steve and his corrupt crew as well.

“You from town?” the stranger asked, eyeing you. “You do strike me as familiar for some reason.”

You blinked, wondering if he was also from town. If he was, then he’d recognize you in no time if he hadn’t already. After all, your face with MISSING had been flashing across the tv screens on the local news.

“Um…not really,” you quietly lied. “I just know someone who lives there. My friend Wanda.”

He barked a laugh.

“You know Wanda? A small world, isn’t it?”

You eyed him as he chuckled to himself, shaking his head fondly. He felt your gaze and looked at you before rolling his eyes.

“How rude of me. I’m Tony, by the way. I offered to take you to the station not just because you look like you might be injured, but because I’m the police chief…”

Your heart dropped to your stomach as you looked at him, feeling like something was stuck in your throat. Despite the warm air blowing onto your skin, you suddenly felt very cold as he continued.

“…I’ve been out of town for a few days on business, and I’d say my timing is pretty great,” he teased. “I do hope you’ll make your way to the hospital though. Hopefully to my station too at some point.”

You kept staring straight ahead, heart going a mile a minute. It appears that he hadn’t recognized you yet, and you wondered if you should chance it and pray that he wouldn’t. You couldn’t believe that you were sitting next to the man who made Steve and Sam and Bucky’s antics possible. You were sitting next to the man who turned a blind eye to all of it.

The air was suddenly thick with tension, but he didn’t notice. He was softly humming along to a song that was playing lowly on the radio. You didn’t know what to do! Surely, he’d recognize you at some point, and then what would you be able to do? Did he know that Steve had taken you? He’d take you right back to him if he did and eventually realize who you were.

Just then, the music was cut off by the sound of an incoming call, his Bluetooth connected. You shouldn’t have been surprised, but your stomach churned, hands growing numb anyway as Steve’s name popped up on the radio screen. Fear gripped you.

“Stop the car!”

He paused with his hand in midair, having been preparing to answer the call. He looked at you with wide eyes, brows furrowed in confusion.

“What?”

You didn’t give him time to say anything else, reaching over and grabbing the wheel.

“Hey!”

Unless he wanted to run the risk of you crashing the car, he had no choice but to slam on brakes. You didn’t hesitate before throwing the door open and jumping out.

“Hey-lady! Damnit,” you heard him say as you ran off.

With the passenger door open, even as far away as you were, you could still hear him answer the call. You ducked into the trees, and moments later you heard his car speeding down the road, stopping at where you’d jumped into the foliage.

You kept your steps light, knowing that he was chasing you. You had a good lead on him, but your confidence took a dive when you turned, only to fall and roll down an incline. The hill was steep, and you felt your ankle twist as you descended. You hit your head at the bottom and swallowed down a scream as pain flared in your ankle and in the back of your neck.

You could hear his footsteps pass where you were, but your relief was short lived. He slowly walked back by moments later, talking to someone this time. Talking to Steve.

“I lost her,” he said.

You didn’t hear Steve’s reply as he was on the phone, but you knew it couldn’t be good.

“I know, I know,” he hissed. “You should’ve told me about her _before_ , Rogers. When she got into my car, I had no idea who she was. If I had, we wouldn’t be here right now!”

You could feel your body growing light…or was it growing heavy? Either way, the stars above you began to spin, and as you felt yourself drifting off, you prayed that when you woke up tomorrow, you’d still be on the forest floor.


	7. Chapter 7

You were shivering when you woke up, the low temperatures not exactly kind to you, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to regret your actions. The only possible regret came from the harsh throbbing in your ankle. You looked down at it with a frown, noting how swollen it was. There was no doubt in your mind that it was broken now.

Pushing yourself to your feet was a struggle, and you looked around the dense woods with a grimace. A hollow feeling was in your chest, fear overtaking you. You were at a loss. You truly did not know how to get yourself out of the situation you found yourself in.

Steve and his clan of crooked cops were definitely looking for you. That wasn’t even a question. On the other hand, your ex-husband was in town looking for you too. As much as you hated to admit it, Killian was indeed the lesser of two evils. You’d rather be found by none of them, but given the choice, you’d take Kilian.

You stumbled towards the road, gripping every tree you passed, gritting your teeth in pain. You looked down at your nightgown, grimacing at the reddish-brown stains. Steve’s blood. You stayed close to the road as you walked, ducking every time a car passed by.

Your ankle was screaming, and you hoped that you hadn’t done any irreversible damage when this was all over. You didn’t know how long you had been walking, but a car was coming by, and you were just about to duck, but the color and make of the car was familiar to you. They were driving slow, and that should have worried you, but the only thing you felt was relief when the driver’s side window rolled down.

Aldrich Killian was just as handsome as you remembered. His blond hair was smoothed away from his face, blue eyes wide as they connected with yours. You almost fell several times as you stumbled towards him while he parked his car on the side of the road.

The tears spilled over as soon as you fell into his arms, and the severity of what had happened to you finally hit you. Here you were, crying in the arms of the man who’d verbally, emotionally, and physically abused you for years. All because he was better than the alternative.

“Honey,” he breathed, pulling away to wipe your face, brows furrowed. “What happened to you?”

His concern was genuine. That was the possessive nature peaking through. Only he was allowed to make you miserable. You knew that it would wear off in a few days though after he’d had time to stew over the divorce and you leaving town. You didn’t care though. You had gotten away from him once. You could do it again.

“We have to get out of here,” you breathed, frantically shaking your head.

His frown deepened, concern coloring his features as he ran his eyes over you, his gaze lingering on the dried blood.

“What happened to your car? People are searching for you. The police are-!”

“No, no,” you sobbed. “Not the police. Killian, please! Get me out of here.”

He paused at the distress on your face, the fear in your eyes as you looked around, as if you were afraid someone was going to come out and get you. You were. He rubbed his hands along your arms.

“Honey-.”

You pressed your lips against his, swallowing down your bile as you did so. He seemed taken aback at first, but he soon responded in kind, moving his mouth against yours. You felt sick to your stomach as he wrapped his arms around you, and your chest was heaving when he pulled away, nose brushing yours.

“Please, Killian… I’m sorry about everything. I never should’ve left, I know that now, but please… Just take me away from here.”

He pursed his lips.

“We should take you to a hospital or the police-.”

“No! I- I don’t need the police, I just need _you_.”

Your eyes flickered between his, heart thudding in your chest, and he slowly nodded. He wrapped an arm around your waist, all but carrying you as he helped you to the car.

“I’ve been driving along these roads, searching for you for days,” he murmured, as he helped you inside, strapping you in. “I knew you had to be around here somewhere. I never gave up.”

You threw him a shaky smile, blinking away tears as he shut the door. You were just desperate to get away from here. You weren’t worried about Killian taking you to a hospital or the police station anyway, the man never was one to follow the law or do the right thing. Besides, he had what he came for: you. You knew that he would want to get out of town as much as you did.

You thought to yourself that Steve had really done a number on you because you felt no fear as you sat beside Killian. There was nothing the man could do to you that was worse than what Steve had done to you. Relief filled you as he drove down the smooth road. You were still technically a missing person, but you knew that Killian would handle that when need be. For once, you were actually grateful for his money and influence.

You were on the verge of sleep when you felt his hand rest on your thigh, and you turned to look at him. His eyes were on the road, but his jaw was clenched. Having weathered this storm before, you braced yourself, telling yourself that you only had to stick it out until you were far away from this town.

“You know… I was real hurt when you filed for divorce. Even more when you just up and left without a trace. Almost like you were running from me.”

His voice was low, but the underlying anger was detected, nonetheless.

“I wasn’t running from you. I was…confused and sad and lost. I was on my own for the first time in a decade. I didn’t realize how much I needed you until I no longer had you,” you whispered, taking his hand.

His eyes were narrowed, skeptical as he glanced at you.

“I was without you for 5 minutes, and my life went to hell.”

He frowned, gaze lingering on your stained dress.

“What happened to you?”

You shook your head.

“N-not here. Please. I’ll tell you everything when we-.”

“I think you’ll tell me now,” he quietly spat.

His hand tightened on yours, and you winced.

“Killian…”

Distress filled you when he pulled off to the side of the road, and you heaved a sigh.

“Killian, we can’t stop. We-.”

“Not until you tell me what happened to you. I think I have a right to know,” he hissed turning to face you.

He didn’t have a right to know anything, but you had to play along if you wanted him to get you out of town. You played with his fingers, mind spinning as you wondered how you would spin this. If you told him the truth, that you’d been kidnapped, he’d most definitely take it to the police, and that was out of the question.

Apparently, you were taking too long, and your eyes widened when he gripped your chin, hard. His intense gaze bore into your own, and you swallowed. His nostrils flared, grip tightening on your chin before he took a deep breath, visibly trying to calm himself. He let you go and reached for you with both hands, pausing before finally letting them drop to your shoulders. He rubbed them in what you were sure was meant to be a calming manner, but the firmness suggested otherwise.

“Honey…just tell me what happened to you. Did someone hurt you? Were you drunk? Did you maybe hurt someone…?”

You opened your mouth, but no words came out.

“If you hurt someone, I’ll handle it. I’ll handle anything to keep you out of trouble as long as things go back to the way they were.”

He eyed you, and you wondered if you should just tell him the truth. You needed to get back on the road immediately, but you didn’t know if Killian’s money was enough against someone who was the law.

“Tell me what it is so I can take care of it, and then we can go back to what we used to be,” he quietly said.

“I was-.”

You cut yourself off when lights flashed behind you. Your heart dropped to your stomach as Killian looked over his shoulder, and you felt like you were going to be sick when you followed his gaze. A police cruiser was behind the car, the lights flashing, and you gasped.

“Perfect,” you heard Killian mumble.

You reached for him, and he looked at you.

“Killian, we have to go.”

He looked at you as if you were crazy.

“I’m not going to just drive off. It’s probably nothing, anyway,” he waved you off.

In the rearview mirror, you could see none other than Officer Barnes exit the car, and you felt yourself get lightheaded. Your hand tightened on Killian’s arm, heart feeling like it was going to jump out of your chest.

“Killian…please. Press the gas,” you quietly pleaded. “They’ll recognize me.”

“Keep your head down,” he ordered.

“Killian-.”

“Enough,” he snarled, glaring at you. “It’s bad enough that I’ve been wandering all over the south looking for you. Do as I say and keep your head down.”

He turned towards the window just as the dark-haired cop approached the door. You laid your other hand on the door handle, fresh tears kissing your eyes. You heard Killian greet him, and you heard Bucky ask for his license and registration. 

This wasn’t right.

You knew it wasn’t right. Bucky hadn’t even told Killian the reason for this, but Killian being Killian, his ego and money going to his head, didn’t question it. It didn’t occur to him that this was strange. You glanced up just as Bucky lowered his head a bit, and you quickly turned and looked out of your window.

You sat up when another cruiser slowly pulled up behind Bucky’s, eyes focused on the passenger side mirror as it parked. You were shaking now, and your fingers dug into Killian’s arm. He hissed and shook it off, throwing you a quick glare before turning back to Bucky. You watched as Bucky walked back to the car, and you looked at Killian.

“Killian, these cops can’t be trusted,” you finally told him. “They’ve been terrorizing me.”

You suspected that he may have doubted you, but you could see that he believed you when he ran his eyes over your features. His frown deepened, face hardening as you looked between him and the cop cars. He followed your gaze and finally seemed to notice the other car.

“Very well. I will get their names and badge numbers and we’ll be on our way,” he told you.

Your eyes widened, and you shook your head.

“N-no. No! We need to leave, now while we can. You don’t know what they’re capable of,” you pleaded with him.

You saw that he was going to argue with you again, but he paused when more tears spilled over and you clung to him.

“Please,” you tearfully whispered.

You shook when you saw Bucky walking back to the car, and Killian rolled the window back down as he approached. You didn’t even have time to scream before blood hit you, landing on your face and painting the inside of the car.

You had maybe 2 seconds to sit in shock and horror before scrambling to roll the window back up. Bucky’s fist flew against it, and he cursed as you locked the door. Killian’s body was slumped in his seat, and you felt your stomach churn as you wondered how you were going to drive away. You were attempting to force yourself into the seat when you looked up and came face to face with the barrel of Bucky’s gun through the window.

“Step out of the car, doll.”

You looked through the back windshield, and your stomach dropped when you watched Officer Wilson step out of the second car. The passenger door opened, and you were on the verge of passing out at the sight of a familiar build and familiar blond hair.

You were trapped.

“Don’t make me shoot,” you heard Bucky say.

You swallowed, looking back to him. You now knew that he was capable of murder, just like Steve, but was he capable of murdering you? Had you not been aware of Steve’s intentions, you might have believed so, but you knew that Steve wanted you alive.

Steve and Sam were almost to your car now, and your mind raced. Your eyes slowly met Bucky’s as you forced yourself into the driver’s seat as best as you could. He tightened his hold on the gun, eyes narrowing at you as you gripped the wheel with one hand, the other on the gearshift.

You were calling his bluff.

You moved the car into drive and pressed the gas. You winced when a gunshot rang out and one of the tires blew. Two more joined the one and tears blurred your vision as you fought to keep the car in control. You could no longer do that when pain flared in your right shoulder, and you screamed, eyes squeezing shut as the car swerved into the ditch.

It rolled to a stop as you clutched your shoulder, blood seeping through your fingers. You whimpered, gasping as you pulled yourself into the backseat just as Bucky came to the window. Sam appeared at the right backseat window while a third figure cast a shadow on your left.

Your tearful eyes met Steve’s cold ones as he bent down, and your lip trembled, biting your tongue to swallow down the pain. His eyes drifted to your shoulder, and you knew then that he was the one who’d shot you.

“Y/N.”

Fear gripped you at the sound of his voice.

“…get out of the car.”

More tears fell, and you looked around for anything to help you.

“You have nowhere to go. It’s over, sweetheart.”

You hung your head, pressing your hand to your shoulder as sobs wracked your frame.

“Come out of the car, and I won’t put you in the basement…”

You looked up at that, your eyes meeting his again, and your throat bobbed at the thought of being locked down there. You were sure that Steve could see the fear in your eyes, and his own seemed to soften. You could feel yourself getting woozy, and you looked at the blood that stained your arm and hand.

You had to be smart about this. He was right. You had nowhere to go. In this car, you were fighting a losing battle, and if you ended up in the basement, then you would truly lose. There was no chance of you ever escaping from there.

You shakily took your hand off of your shoulder, wincing as you did so, and slowly put your hand on the lock. You blinked, eyelashes fluttering as you fought to stay conscious. You looked up at Steve again, brows furrowed, and he tilted his head at you.

“You come out on your own, and I won’t put you down there,” he repeated.

It took everything in you to flip the lock, and as soon as the click sounded through the air, Steve was ripping the door open. You screamed when his hand tangled in your hair, scalp burning as he dragged you out and threw you on the ground.

You coughed when your back harshly met the earth’s surface, and out of the corner of your eye, you noticed his hand was bandaged up, thumb seemingly reattached. In the short time you had noticed that, his good hand had wrapped around your throat.

Your hands wrapped around his arm, eyes wide and tearful as they stared into his own venomous gaze. He was shaking as he choked you, eyes filled with so much anger that it finally hit you what was happening.

Steve was killing you.

You sobbed, kicking and hitting at him, chest tightening as you struggled to breathe. His arm flexed with the intensity behind his assault, and you watched as his jaw ticked, eyes clouded over.

“Steve,” you heard Sam call. “You don’t want to do this, Steve.”

His nostrils flared when Sam called him again, and with a defeated snarl, he ripped himself away from you. You gasped for breath, fighting to clear your vision as he yanked you up with him. He pinned you to Killian’s car, fire in his eyes.

“You’re lucky that you can give me what I want. Lucky that I’m willing to let you live,” he hissed.

You yelped when he pressed his hand into your wounded shoulder, vision blurring. Steve pressed his lips to your cheek as his hand slid up to your hair, pulling at the root with a tight grip.

“They do say 3rd time’s the charm.”

He pulled your head away from the car before slamming it against it, and you felt yourself drop.

  


When you came to, it was dark outside. That much you could see from the window when you turned your head. You realized that you were in the first room you’d woken up in weeks ago when you were first brought here. You were relieved to see that Steve had kept his word, but your relief was short lived.

When you moved, your movements felt sluggish. You felt like you were being weighed down and worry filled you. Before you had any more time to dwell on it, the door opened, and you slowly turned your head to watch Steve as he stepped inside.

He had something in his hand.

Even when he turned on the lamp, you couldn’t see what it was. Your eyes were drawn to his bandaged hand, and he followed your gaze, a less than humorous smirk gracing his lips.

“Tony sewed it back on,” he said, and you were reminded of the police chief. “He did a pretty shotty job, but I suppose I can’t complain.”

You whimpered when he sat down beside you, groaning when he reached to inspect your shoulder. You hadn’t even realized that it had been tended to.

“I have to say…you keep surprising me,” he told you.

Your lashes fluttered, and he stroked your cheek.

“I knew you’d keep me on my toes, but you’ve surpassed my expectations,” he hummed.

You finally saw what he had, and your heart raced as your eyes landed on the syringe.

“Steve,” you croaked.

“I meant it when I said I wasn’t going to put you in the basement…but that was because I had every intention of killing you.”

Your heart skipped a beat at that, and he threw you a crooked smile.

“Sam had to remind me that I want you. Hmph. That’s how angry I was, you know. That I had to be reminded why I took you in the first place,” he whispered, grabbing your arm.

Tears kissed your eyes, and he shushed you as he stuck the needle in your arm.

“This is just going to keep you calm…sedated for a while.”

You hissed, shaking your head.

“This is the only way I can keep you from running…at least for a while, without putting you down there. I want to show you that you can trust me. That’s the only way this will work. You ran because you couldn’t trust me, I get it.”

You glared at him, already feeling even more tired.

“I ran because I don’t want to be here,” you managed to sneer.

He smirked at you, leaning over to kiss your forehead as sleep threatened to take you again.

“You will.”

“Steve,” you sobbed, and he shushed you again.

His hand stroked your face, and he pressed more kisses to your forehead and then your cheek and your nose. His lips finally brushed over yours.

“I’m determined to make this work, and I won’t stop until we’re one big happy family.”


	8. Chapter 8

The weeks that followed were a blur. You meant that in the literal sense. Steve kept you sedated and unable to even lift a finger against him for what felt like months, but in actuality it was only weeks. You were in and out of consciousness, something Steve enjoyed immensely, and every time you closed your eyes, all you saw was Killian.

You saw his angry face and remembered how his absolute incompetence put you back at square one. You remembered the fear and the blood and the pain in your shoulder. Most of all, you remembered Steve’s hands on your neck. You remembered how it felt when you finally realized that he’d had every intention of killing you.

The fact that you’d made him angry enough to kill you made your stomach churn. You had foolishly thought that a fate similar to Peggy’s was off the table. Now you knew that you indeed could push Steve too far and he very well could snap and kill you. It occurred to you that to truly escape this, you might have to kill him.

You weren’t exactly keen on killing Steve. It wasn’t a moral issue. He was your captor and rapist after all, but if you killed him…you would never be able to go back to your life before this. He was a cop. A well loved one. His absence would be noticeable, and even if he weren’t, he had friends who were. Bucky and Sam would know it was you, and there was no doubt in your mind that they’d make you pay for what you did.

Sure, you could tell other police and the court the truth…but who would believe you? As corrupt as they were, it wasn’t outlandish to think that Bucky or Sam would plant evidence or fabricate a whole tale to make you look as guilty as possible. If you killed Steve, you’d either be on the run forever or looking at the inside of a prison for life, and that’s if you didn’t get a death sentence. The only way to truly prevent any of that was to kill all of his cop buddies right along with him _and_ cover it up.

You were smart, but you weren’t ‘cover up a multiple murder’ smart. No matter how many crime shows you’d watched in your life.

So, you were back at square one. To even attempt to get back to your old life was to escape…again. That was something that was going to be near to impossible. You hadn’t just attempted to escape. You _had_ escaped. You had succeeded. Steve now knew the extent of what you were capable of, and you knew that when he stopped drugging you, there would be no way you could ever get away from him. Not for a long time, and that wouldn’t bode well for you.

Steve took full advantage of the vulnerable state that you were in. You could never fight back when you woke up to the feel of him sliding into you during the early hours of the morning or late at night after he’d helped you shower. You could feel the affect it was having on you. You could feel the way your gut tingled and hands buzzed every time his hands met your skin. You couldn’t do anything but be complacent in it, and your body was growing to expect his touch.

The first day that you woke up with a sense of understanding that you hadn’t felt in a while, limbs feeling like yours again, was also the first day that you had thrown up. You knew it then before you’d even made it to the bathroom, knees harshly hitting the floor as you emptied the contents of your stomach into the toilet. You were done by the time Steve woke up, and you said nothing as he rose to help you back into bed.

Your silent tears wet the pillow beneath your head as he settled behind you, arm thrown over your waist. Dread kept you awake all night, not even flinching when Steve’s alarm went off. He was going into the station today but had been on nothing but desk duty since you escaped in order for his thumb to fully heal.

You were handcuffed to the chair at the table as he fed you, and you were silent when he led you back upstairs to lock you in his room. He didn’t speak to you much now, and you were both thankful and weary of that. It gave you room to think, to scheme, but at the same time, you didn’t know what he was thinking. He fiercely pressed his lips against yours before closing the door behind him. You eyed the new and improved lock pad as it flashed red when the door shut.

You sat on the bed with a sigh, looking around the room with tearful eyes. There was nothing in here to help you escape. At least, not at first glance. You were officially out of time, and you had to leave and leave for good, successfully this time. It was only a matter of time before Steve caught on.

You didn’t need to take a pregnancy test to know that you were pregnant.

There was no telling how much harder Steve would crack down once he found out. Your stomach churned with more than just morning sickness at the thought. Body clean of drugs for the first time in weeks, you stood and paced around the room. The nightstand was glued down, and the drawer was glued shut. Frustration threatened to make you cry, but you took a deep shaky breath.

You wanted to tell yourself that you had a little time to come up with something, but another part of you argued that you didn’t. You not only wanted, but also needed to get out of here as soon as possible. You didn’t want to give Steve more time to find out about your condition and come up with more ways to keep you here. You wondered if he would take it to extremes… If he would put you in the basement just to keep you from leaving or harming yourself.

You stopped at that thought, and your eyes fell to the bathroom door.

Heart racing in your chest, you burst through the threshold, and your gaze flickered between the mirror and the glass shower door. You told yourself to take your time, that you had hours before Steve would return from work. You didn’t have to choose immediately, but you needed to figure out which would be easier to break.

Adrenaline at an all time high, you bent down to open the cabinet door, but it was also glued shut. You let out a frustrated scream before kicking it, tears kissing your eyes. Your eyes fell to the mirror again, and before you could comprehend your next course of action, you punched it…hard. You yelped in pain, clutching your hand as you eyed the tiny crack on the surface. It was hardly anything, but to you it was hope.

With another deep breath, you smashed it again, screaming in both pain and satisfaction when it broke, a few pieces clanking into the sink. You rushed to pull more pieces off, wincing as it sliced your fingers, blood falling from your hands. You held a nice sized piece in your hand, swallowing down the pain as you backed out of the room.

You stumbled to the bed, running your bloody hands all over the bedding. You eyed it with a frown, thinking to yourself that while it was a start, it wasn’t enough. You bit your lip, blinking a few times as you thought about what you needed to do. The wrist would be easiest, but that was too much of a slippery slope. If you cut too deep or too wrong, you could easily do something you had no intention of doing.

You considered your shoulder or leg, but God forbid you needed to go in the lake again, you’d need all of your limbs intact. With a shaky sigh, you lifted the oversized t-shirt that Steve had put on you, and you pressed the broken mirror piece to the inside of your thigh, right next to your core. You swallowed down a sob and jerked the jagged edge along your skin. It hurt so bad that you couldn’t even make a sound, only heavy breathing escaping you as you smeared your blood over more of the bedding.

You fell to your knees, ripping off a piece of the sheet before tying it around your thigh. It was painful with how tight you tied it, but it was better than bleeding out. On shaky legs, you pulled yourself back onto the bed, laying askew on the bloody sheets, one hand by your head and the other, the one with the shard of mirror, under the pillow beneath your head.

Now you waited.

Genuinely exhausted, you did drift in and out of sleep while Steve was gone. It wasn’t smart, considering you could still feel yourself bleeding, but it couldn’t be helped. You were lazily staring up at the ceiling when you finally heard Steve return. You felt your stomach swirl, but you swallowed it down and closed your eyes. You felt like you were going to throw up, and you prayed that you could keep it down.

You could hear him call your name, but you didn’t respond, and it wasn’t long before you heard his footsteps on the stairs. You evened your breathing, but there was nothing to do about the way your heart was going haywire in your chest. You hoped he wouldn’t notice, but there was no more time to ponder on that before you heard the door open.

Steve’s reaction was instantaneous. You heard his sharp intake of breath, and the bed was dipping and jostling as he joined you, reaching for you.

“Y/N.”

His strained voice reached your ears, and he pressed his ear to your chest. You tightened your grip as he slid his arm underneath you, pulling you up. His head was still on your chest when you opened your eyes and swung, just barely catching his shoulder right as he straightened in time to move back.

A hiss escaped him, and his hold tightened on you as you dug the broken shard into his arm. Anger contorted his features, but you swallowed your fear, yanking it out and aiming for his neck. His free hand reached to catch hold of your wrist, but your free hand pressed into his eyes. He yelped, reaching for that hand as he rolled.

You both landed on the floor in a heap, you on top of him, and you went to stab him again, but he shoved you off of him. Your back harshly met the floor, and you gasped in pain, struggling to push yourself to your feet. Shard still in hand, you made your way to the door, only to scream at the harsh tug on your scalp.

You gasped when your face was pressed against the hallway wall, Steve’s imposing frame pressed to your back. You pushed back against him, his back hitting the opposite wall, tears kissing your lashes as his arm snaked around your neck.

You kicked back against him, hitting at him, but his hold was firm. Grip almost painful around the broken mirror piece, you reached up and back, swiping it over whatever part of his face you could reach. You both screamed, him in pain and you in fear as he let you go, the bottom of the stairs fast approaching.

Pain traveled through you as you hit each step, landing on your knee at the bottom. You took in a shaky breath, a scream bubbling in your throat. You could hear Steve’s harsh breaths at the top, and you forced yourself to stand on unsteady legs. You could hear him behind you as you ran to the back door, hitting it in frustration.

It was locked.

“I wonder how much blood you lost pulling that little stunt…”

You spun around, back against the door as you eyed him. Even though you couldn’t see it, the way the top of his uniform stuck to his skin told you it was soaked with blood, more on his face, a nasty jagged cut traveling over his face, interrupted by his bleeding eye. You glared at him, pressing into the door even more as he stepped off the last step.

“I wonder when the dizziness will set in…the clouded judgement,” he hummed, a humorless smirk on his bloodstained lips.

You glanced around, considering your next course of action. Your gaze was drawn back to him when he moved, spreading his arms as he stared you down.

“What will you do now? Hmm? What’s your next move?”

He was mocking you, and your nostrils flared. He chuckled, taking a step towards you, blocking the entrance hall. He was also way too close to the kitchen. The only option was the doors behind you, but they were locked…but they were also 90% glass.

Your eyes met his hard blue ones, and the noise of the mirror shard hitting the floor traveled through the air. His smirk grew, but there was no trace of humor in his features. Despite what he’d told you before, you felt like if he caught you, he would really kill you this time.

With a deep breath, you turned and threw yourself through the glass doors. You hissed as glass shards dug into your skin, doing so even more as you pushed yourself to your feet. Steve was on you almost immediately, a growl escaping him as you fought against him.

He pushed you into the wooden porch railing, hand pressed against the back of your neck as he pushed your face onto it. You elbowed him in the stomach, and he huffed. You repeated the action, and his free hand grabbed your arm, pulling your head up so that your back was pressed to his chest. His breathing was labored in your ear, and yours fared no better.

Now that you were still, you realized that your body was screaming in pain. You couldn’t tell what hurt the most, and you wondered if you were able to get out of his hold, would you even be able to get away? Or would your body collapse on itself first?

“You know what happens now, don’t you?”

Steve’s voice was venomous, lips brushing your ear, and you jerked your head away. He swiftly spun you both around, making to force you back into the house, but with a scream, you threw yourself back, forcing him back too.

The world spun as you both flipped over the railing, hitting the ground and rolling down the small incline. You literally crawled towards the water on shaky hands and knees, tears of relief spilling over as water hit your shoulders. You could hear Steve screaming for you, his voice not far behind.

You were shaking from both the cold water and the sound of splashing water, Steve’s pursuit loud in your ears. The cold water seeping into your cuts and bruises didn’t help. Instead it felt like cool knives were being pressed into every injury. Steve was still hot on your tail, and you ducked underneath the dark water, pushing forward despite the lack of visibility.

It was only when you couldn’t hold your breath anymore did you come up for air. You spun around when you realized you couldn’t hear Steve, and panic gripped you as you realized he had gone under the water too. You looked around, eyes wide before going under again.

If you couldn’t see, you figured he couldn’t either. Not being able to see him put you on edge, but you swallowed down your fear and kicked towards the other side of the lake anyway. You came up for air again, face wet from water and tears as you rushed towards the tree line. You were being hunted, and the feeling was nauseating.

You kept your eyes on the tree line in front of you, only looking away when a familiar hand wrapped around your ankle. You flailed in the water as you were pulled under, firm hands grabbing at you. You kicked against him, but your injuries and the water made it difficult, and he had you in his arms as he pulled you both to the surface.

You were shaking, and you pressed your hands into his chest as one hand pulled at the roots of your hair, his other pinning you against him. You whimpered as he tightened his hold, painfully so, and his blue eyes looked almost black in the darkness. His lip curled over his teeth as he glared at you.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t drown you, right now,” he murmured.

Your lips trembled, more tears spilling over as you came face to face with your own mortality yet again. You knew that he could. You were injured and growing weaker by the minute. Not only that, but he _would_. Steve had killed before, dumped her in this very lake, and he’d almost killed you before too. His hold tightened, and bile threatened to come up your throat.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t hold you under this water and leave you here…”

You could feel the short sentence lingering on your tongue. You knew that it was the only way to stay alive another day, another chance to escape. But you also knew that it would change everything. Telling him would keep you alive, sure, but it could also dwindle your chance of escape down to nothing.

“I…”

“You _what?_ ”

“I… I’m-I’m pregnant.”

Your voice was small, quiet even in the quiet outside, but Steve heard you loud and clear, eyes widening and grip loosening ever so slightly.

“…if you’re lying to me-.”

“I’m not!” you interrupted him, frantically shaking your head. “I’m not. I don’t think I’m far along, maybe some weeks, but… I’m sure of it.”

His whole expression changed, and your heart sank as you could literally feel what little freedom you had left slipping away. His face softened, and the hand on your back slid to your stomach, thumb grazing your skin through the shirt. His face suddenly hardened again, pulling you against him.

“You better hope that your great escape attempt hasn’t harmed it in any way.”

You bit your tongue, looking away. You grimaced as he yanked you along as he treaded back towards the house. Your knees buckled when you both made it onto land, but Steve’s hold kept you from falling. You shook as he leaned in to press his lips against the side of your face, your eyes closing in disgust.

“I know you think this little reveal will allow you another chance of escape, but I promise you… It won’t.”

You turned your head to glower at him, and he softly smirked, reaching up to brush his thumb along your bottom lip. His eyes were mirthful, and you suddenly felt like there was a hidden joke that you weren’t in on.

  


You were regretting your actions the previous night when you woke up the next morning in barely bearable pain. It hurt to sit up, but you did so anyway as you looked around, noting that the room was empty of a certain blond cop.

You thought that maybe he’d gone to work, but with a start, you realized that the bedroom door was open. You could faintly hear him downstairs, and wincing the whole time, you pushed yourself to your feet. Your steps were slow, body riddled with pain as you made your way downstairs.

You could hear him in the kitchen, and your gaze was drawn to the broken backdoor. You frowned, wondering why Steve suddenly seemed so much more lenient with your freedom. Surely, he figured that you’d attempt to just walk out? Before you could think on that anymore, he was exiting the kitchen, dressed in a simple flannel and jeans, looking deceptively domestic.

Your mouth parted when he greeted you with a kiss to your cheek. You frowned at him when he pulled away, and your mind swirled with possibilities. What had happened while you were asleep? Why did he seem more trusting? Happy even? Sure, you were pregnant, but surely Steve wanted to confirm that first. He had to be skeptical, so there was no way your condition had prompted this behavior.

“Come and eat breakfast,” he softly said, and you stumbled back.

You shook your head, eyeing him.

“What’s going on?”

His smile was small, secretive as he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you into him.

“What’s going on is that I cooked breakfast and after last night, you need to get your strength back. Especially considering your delicate condition,” he hummed.

“A condition that you haven’t even confirmed. I know that the possibility of me being pregnant didn’t bring this on. You’re quite easy to read,” you told him.

He straightened, tilting his head at you like he would a child.

“Come eat-.”

“Tell me what’s going on,” you demanded.

His eyes clouded over as you stared him down, and his small smile transformed into a smirk. He suddenly spun you around, pressing his chest against your back as his lips kissed your ear.

“You want to know what’s going on? Fine.”

He pushed you along, and with dread you realized that you were approaching the basement door. You watched as he reached around you to unlock and open it, grip now tight on your arm as he led you down the stairs to the heftier door.

“I wanted to have a nice morning, you know? Have breakfast together, discuss the pregnancy, our future…”

He rambled on as he slid the bar from over the door, the door groaning as he pushed it open. Dread filled you as he continued, and you were suddenly very afraid.

“…but no. You wish to do this now? Fine. I suppose it’s best to get this over with so there will be no more misunderstanding about our life from here on out.”

Confusion filled you as you didn’t understand what he meant, but you did as soon as you stepped into the room. A choked scream escaped you, and you stumbled back, right into Steve’s waiting arms.

Your wide eyes met Wanda’s tearful ones as Steve wrapped his arms around you. You trembled in his hold, taking in the way Wanda was chained to the bed with her hands behind her back, a cloth tied around her mouth, muffled sobs escaping her at the sight of Steve.

His lips grazed your ear, and you jerked in his hold.

“You see…I do believe that you’re pregnant, or at the very least, I believe you think so. However, I don’t trust that you won’t put this child in harm’s way just to escape me. After all, you happily bled yourself and jumped through glass and over railings all the while knowing of your condition. You’ve proven to me that your freedom is your top priority,” he murmured.

Wanda was screaming at you, and even muffled, you could tell that she was saying your name, probably telling you to run. You shook your head in disbelief, the reality of this new development taking a while to sink in.

“This will ensure that you behave, that you obey me, that you give me everything I want. This will ensure our future…”

You couldn’t take your eyes off of Wanda as he yanked you along, feet tripping over each other as he forced you up the stairs. Your mind spun when he slammed the door shut, silencing Wanda’s muffled screams.

When your back met the hallway wall, your glassy eyes stared past Steve, feeling like someone had punched you in the gut. You slowly shifted your gaze to meet his own as he pressed his fingers against the wall beside your head, caging you in.

The tears finally spilled over when he smiled at you, smugness in every curve of his lips. He heaved a wistful sigh, blue eyes sparkling as he ran them over your defeated form.

“I love the feeling of coming out on top…don’t you?”

You balled your hands into fists, a sob caught in your chest.

“I…won…”

“No,” you sobbed, shaking your head, and he shushed you.

“I did. I won, Y/N.”

“No, _no!_ ”

You pushed against him, but he pushed back, pressing his chest against yours as he hummed.

“You weren’t above playing dirty, and neither am I. Pretending to be hurt? Making me think you were on the verge of death, if not already dead, just to attack me? That was low,” he slowly whispered. “…but I can go lower.”

You felt yourself falling, sliding down the wall, but Steve caught you.

“Woah, woah,” he cooed, brushing the tears away from your face as he drank you in. “You lost, sweetheart…but not without a fight, I’ll give you that.”

Your hands were on his shoulders as your chest heaved, body wracked with sobs. His eyes bore into your own, and you eyed the healing cut on his face.

“You were good…but I was better.”

He pressed his forehead against yours, and your face crumbled as the truth finally set in.

“You so much as step a foot out of this house without my permission…you so much as lift another finger towards me… If I even _think_ that you’re intentionally causing harm to yourself, Ill hurt her.”

You shuddered.

“I’ll gift you with a finger or an ear…maybe even her tongue. Her health and safety is completely dependent upon _you_.”

Your head fell, eyes landing on the floor, but Steve pressed a finger to your chin, lifting your head so that his gaze met yours again. They were alight with triumph, a smug smirk dancing along his lips.

“Now…kiss me.”

Holding back another sob and left with no other choice, you leaned in and fearfully pressed your lips against his.

_fin._


End file.
